Fans are responding to the Lifetime documentary “Where Is Wendy Williams?” on social media.
The documentary’s first segment, which followed Wendy Williams after her daytime talk show “The Wendy Williams Show” concluded in June 2022, premiered on February 24.
In the first section, she shared open moments regarding her health, discussing her battles with drug and alcohol addiction and how lymphedema has limited her movement.
In one tape, the former host appears to be frequently confused and fails to identify her boss. The same manager approaches her in a different scene over empty booze bottles discovered in her flat.
In an interview with NBC News, author Shawn Zanotti, who was Williams’ publicist in 2021, criticized the documentary’s makers.
“I felt that [Williams] was being exploited,” said Zanotti, who began working as Williams’ publicist in 2021. “She thought we were focusing on the comeback of her career. — She would be mortified. There’s no way you can convince me that she would be OK with looking and seeing herself in that way.”
Williams’ management team revealed in a statement that she is in a treatment center and has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia just one day before the documentary aired.
The filmmakers admitted that “some days, Wendy was on and very Wendy,” “She wasn’t on other days.” They denied knowing about Williams’ disease when they were in production, according to an interview with TODAY.com.
Social media was used by fans to express their raw opinions about the documentary. One fan labeled the effort “exploitative” in light of Williams’ 2023 diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.
“I hope that Wendy Williams gets the help she needs and maybe this show will help with that but something about this isn’t sitting right with me,” a fan wrote on X. “She can’t consent to being on camera like this. It feels exploitative.”
Another wrote, “That Wendy Williams documentary is SAD.”
“I thought this #Lifetime docuseries was bout her making a comeback? A highlight reel of her legacy? A step back into that fun/messy host – instead Wendy’s on repeat, completely inebriated & deteriorating before our eyes? Something’s not right bout this show #WhereIsWendyWilliams”
I thought this #Lifetime docuseries was bout her making a comeback? A highlight reel of her legacy? A step back into that fun/messy host – instead Wendy’s on repeat, completely inebriated & deteriorating before our eyes? Something’s not right bout this show #WhereIsWendyWilliams pic.twitter.com/nfkZIF0CnV
— Thee Annointed Mr. Trigger Baddie (@FckRndNFoundOut) February 25, 2024
One X user wrote, “#WhereIsWendyWilliams Is the family of Wendy Williams exploiting her for one more paycheck. Makes me so mad 😡. They could have let her go with her dignity. This is why they have no contact with her, they are horrible for allowing this. Not watching this. FU Lifetime”
“I wouldn’t watch this. I am not a fan, but this “documentary” is so exploitive. Disgraceful. Everyone involved should be ashamed.”
If #WendyWilliams was coherent, she would not have authorized the ridiculous documentary they put out on Lifetime.
— SweetPea (@SweetPea1636) February 26, 2024
Credit: ABC, CBS, USA Today, People, Lifetime