Wendy Williams is pushing back against her conservatorship. The 60-year-old former talk show host called into Good Day New York on March 11 from the hospital, where she had been taken after leaving her assisted living facility.
Williams, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2023, said she underwent mental competency tests and claimed to be “cognitively impaired.”
“I passed with flying colors!” she said.
Her caretaker, Ginalia Monterrosa, accompanied her at the hospital, and Williams asked her to “elaborate on everything.”
“She had those tests, she’s been deemed she is not incapacitated,” Monterrosa told the show’s anchor Rosanna Scotto. “I think it’s great news, and it’s public, and everybody knows factually that Wendy’s not incapacitated.”
When asked if she was satisfied with the independent evaluation of her psychological health, Williams responded enthusiastically, saying, “Absolutely.”
“That is what I want, and that is what I got,” she added.
She went on to say that her hope is to be released from her conservatorship — which was put in place in 2022 — so she can live a normal life again, which would include “staying in New York” and “going back to work.”
“What will I do?” Williams asked herself. “I have options.”
“In terms of getting out of guardianship, that is my number one, A, number one most important thing,” she noted.
Monterrosa disclosed that she initially reported allegations of elder abuse to Adult Protective Services and also contacted the NYPD for a welfare check on Williams. Because “there isn’t anything right now that legally allows Wendy to bring an attorney on board,” Monterrosa said she felt the need to involve the authorities.
Scotto asked Williams if she would consider having a financial advisor and a sober companion should she be released from her conservatorship, given her past struggles with alcoholism.
“I don’t need that. I’m not drinking ever in my life,” Williams claimed. “By the way, a financial advisor, I’ve had that for years. Of course, [I will get] a financial advisor, of course somebody to look over my money. The money I have right now is all with my guardian person.”
Williams described her life now as restrictive, previously comparing it to “a prison,” as reported by PEOPLE.
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“I’m on the fifth floor, it’s called the memory unit. This is a floor where you [go if you] don’t remember anything,” she said. “Like, really? And as far as me being able to go outside, I’m not allowed. I have to stay in this building.”
“In order to go to the gym, which is on the third floor, I have to be permitted, and then I have somebody who works in this building walk me downstairs, and the man who’s working me out, he’s outside to spot me,” she continued. “My money is in the air. This is my life!”
“I have a landline phone,” Williams concluded. “[It’s] horrible.”
Williams was taken to a hospital for evaluation after authorities conducted a welfare check at her assisted living facility on March 10.
She later explained on The Breakfast Club that she willingly went to the hospital to speak with a doctor, requesting an independent evaluation.
The former talk show host detailed the mental competency tests she underwent, stating she answered all questions correctly, including basic inquiries like the president’s name and her birth date.
Monterrosa claimed she got 10 of 10 answers correct.