Wendy Williams Has Dementia and Aphasia

health

Updated
Feb. 23, 2024

Wendy Williams Has Dementia and Aphasia

By
Justin Curto,
who covers music, TV, and celebrity for Vulture

Wendy Williams.
Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage

Talk-show host Wendy Williams has been living with dementia and aphasia. According to a press release, Williams, 59, has primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, which affect her communication and cognition. “The decision to share this news was difficult and made after careful consideration, not only to advocate for understanding and compassion for Wendy, but to raise awareness about aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and support the thousands of others facing similar circumstances,” the press release said. (She has the same diagnosis that Bruce Willis revealed last year.) The news comes amid speculation about Williams’s health, as Lifetime prepares to air the documentary Where Is Wendy Williams? on February 24 and 25. Williams previously shared that she had Grave’s disease in 2018 and lymphedema in 2019. She stopped hosting The Wendy Williams Show in 2021, and it later concluded in 2022.

Williams has been in a guardianship since 2022, after her bank believed she was being financially exploited. She has recently been receiving cognitive treatment at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. In a new People cover story, her family expressed skepticism about her care, claiming they don’t know where she is being cared for and can’t call her. “All I know is that Wendy and her team walked into the courtroom one way, and they walked out, and the family is completely excluded,” her sister, Wanda Finnie, said of the guardianship.

Williams “is still able to do many things for herself,” according to the press release. “Most importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed.”

Following the news of her diagnosis going public, Williams released a statement to People on Friday, February 23, thanking fans for their support. “I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD),” the statement read. “Let me say, wow! Your response has been overwhelming. The messages shared with me have touched me, reminding me of the power of unity and the need for compassion. I hope that others with FTD may benefit from my story. I want to also thank the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration for their kind words of support and their extraordinary efforts to raise awareness of FTD. I continue to need personal space and peace to thrive. Please just know that your positivity and encouragement are deeply appreciated.”

This story has been updated.

Wendy Williams Has Dementia and Aphasia