Wendy Williams Reportedly Thought Guardianship Was for Finances, Not Loss of Control: 'She Didn't Think Her Life Would Be Taken Away'
Wendy Williams is battling to terminate the legal guardianship that has overseen portions of her life for the last couple of years.
The former daytime queen had initially been filed to request the guardianship, which her health care advocate, Ginalisa Monterroso, says Williams thought would help her secure her finances — not take away control over her life, according to PEOPLE.
A guardianship was established over the 60-year-old in 2022 to handle both her financial matters and health. It came amid fears over her mental health, especially after banks had frozen her accounts. Williams' son Kevin Hunter Jr. was given power of attorney until he was accused of financial misconduct, and ultimately a judge had to step in.
Monterroso said Williams assumed the guardianship would only be an extra layer of protection for her financial interests. What she never expected was that it would ultimately become a battle of personal agency.
"She wanted to make sure nobody's in her money and she would be fine," Monterroso revealed to the publication. "She kind of felt like, 'Hey, I have the court. They're going to sign me a money person. I'm going to be good.' In no way did she think that our whole life was going to be taken away from her."
What seemed to Williams a financial safety net turned out to be a complete control system. As a result of that arrangement, the former TV host is not allowed to make her own choices in life, dictating where she lives, how she spends her money, whether she can leave the house, and even who can see her.
Monterroso shot back with, "You have no rights. Somebody in prison has more rights than a person put under a guardianship."
Williams has complained about having been put in a position she never thought she would find herself in. One particularly touching moment was when he appeared on The Breakfast Club in January 2024.
"I am not cognitively impaired but I feel like I am in prison," she said, describing the wellness facility where she has been residing. "I'm in this place with people who are in their nineties and their eighties and their seventies... These people, there's something wrong with these people here on this floor. I am clearly not."
A Public Plea for Freedom
Williams is still fighting her guardianship, with rallies scheduled in New York and Los Angeles on April 1 to stand in solidarity with her. In March, she made the headlines when she put a handwritten note pressed against the window of her facility which read, "Help! Wendy!" The note is something she had purposely written to get attention in her case, but it prompted police response and an ambulance trip for evaluation. "It was just more of a strategic move to get more evidence because this case has been stuck."
Monterroso says that Williams took a mental capacity test in March 2024 during a hospital appointment, and the results indicate that she is still mentally fit, which was a relief to her supporters. "She was alert and oriented, and we were satisfied with that."
"She didn't want to kind of burden them with anything," she says, pointing to the strained dynamic between Williams and her loved ones. Williams' sister, Wanda Finnie, recently expressed concern over the way the guardianship system is handling her sister's care. "How did she go from this aunt or sister that we love and is healthy one minute to this person who's in and out of the hospital?" Finnie questioned.
It will take time, Monterroso says, but Williams knows that she is "worth it" and that she "can fight" for her freedom. "Wendy feels as if she has a voice and change to get out."
"People are listening to her now, so she's confident that she's going to continue to fight."
A Movement for Justice
According to Diane Dimond, an investigative journalist and author who has spent years studying the system, millions of Americans are impacted by restrictions like these. Dimond explains that a guardian could be a family member, it could be your best friend, or it could be a perfectly commoner. "But within that, the ward of the court loses all their civil rights."
The tale of Williams has turned into a rallying cry for reform in the guardianship system. A source close to Williams urges, "No one should feel imprisoned in their own life — especially not someone who has proven time and again that she is capable, intelligent, and deserving of dignity,"
Williams is still battling on with rallies in New York and Los Angeles. Supporters will converge on Williams' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and outside the Coterie Hudson Yards location in New York, demanding an end to her conservatorship.
Hopefully, as the case goes through the system, Monterroso said Williams can get her life back on track. "This movement is about dignity. It's about voice. And it's about justice."
