Wendy Williams’ Guardian Reaches Settlement in Lawsuit Over Lifetime Documentary

Wendy Williams’ guardian has settled the lawsuit against Lifetime and its parent company, A&E Networks, regarding the documentary Where Is Wendy Williams? According to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, guardian Sabrina Morrissey and the defendants filed a joint motion to resolve the matter, which outlines the settlement agreement, proposed attorneys’ fees and costs, and the distribution of any settlement payment.

Days before the documentary’s 2024 release, Williams’ care team disclosed that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Morrissey initially sued Lifetime, A&E Network, and other producers in February 2024 in an attempt to block the film’s release, but that effort was unsuccessful.

In September, Morrissey filed an amended complaint alleging the two-part series was produced “without a valid contract” while Williams was “highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited.” The lawsuit accused A&E Network of “willfully taking advantage of a severely impaired, incapacitated person” and generating millions from the docuseries, while Williams reportedly received only $82,000. Morrissey demanded that all profits from Where Is Wendy Williams? be directed to Williams, who requires significant funding for ongoing medical care and supervision.

The amended complaint further alleged that producers presented the contract after filming had already taken place, while Williams appeared “clearly disheveled, not mentally present, and confused.” The filing stated that “no person who witnessed W.W.H. in these circumstances could possibly have believed she was capable of consenting either to an agreement to film or to the filming itself.” The documentary chronicled two years of the media personality’s life as her health declined, ultimately leading to a court-ordered guardianship in 2022.

Representatives for Williams and A&E Networks did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

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