Bethenny Frankel On Wendy Williams' Health Struggles & Legal Guardianship: 'She's Alone'
By Favour Adegoke on February 27, 2024 at 5:15 PM EST
TV personality Bethenny Frankel has shared her thoughts about Wendy Williams' health struggles and legal guardianship.
In two TikTok posts shared within hours of each other, Frankel touched on how triggering and confusing the entire situation was and also discussed how the stress of daytime TV might have contributed to Williams' illness.
Bethenny Frankel Says She Has Avoided Watching The Wendy Williams Documentary
Frankel recently weighed in on Willams' health struggles and legal guardianship following the release of the TV host's documentary.
Taking to TikTok, Frankel claimed that she has avoided watching the documentary, hinting at how triggering it would be for her.
"It's our worst fear - getting older and feeling alone, being incapacitated, and not being taken care of," Frankel said before commenting on Williams' situation. "She's alone, we can see people around her, but she is alone in this world like many of us are. But she's being exploited."
Frankel also highlighted the parallels between Wendy Williams' legal guardianship and actress Britney Spears' conservatorship, in which the stars had their wealth managed by someone else. In Spears' case, her father was appointed, whereas Williams had a legal guardian named Sabrina Morrissey appointed for her.
She went on to say that the entire situation around Williams was confusing and traumatic.
"What does what she wants have to do with anything? She also wanted to have control of her finances, which was a terrible idea," Frankel added about Williams.
"So the same person who wanted to have control of her finances, yet a bank intervened, wanted to produce a documentary while she has Graves' disease, dementia, and is a raging alcoholic. Like, what the f--- is going on?"
Bethenny Frankel Hints That Running A Daytime Show Worsened Wendy Willams' Health Issues
In a second TiTok post released within hours of the first, Frankel discussed the possibility that Williams' health issues worsened due to the stress of running her now-axed daytime show, "The Wendy Williams Show."
Frankel began, "I have this question about Wendy Williams. Does stress exacerbate her preexisting conditions? Um, because doing a talk show, people like Kelly Clarkson and Drew Barrymore and Ellen and Wendy make that look easy. That is so insanely stressful."
She added, "Daytime television is savage. Just cause it's cheery and florals for spring doesn't mean it's actually cheery. They always talk about the nighttime talk shows. The daytime talk shows. Savage."
Frankel also mentioned that since the money that comes with it is "astronomical, "Williams must have been forced to keep up with the lifestyle. At the same time, she faced the "gnarly" situation of hundreds of people depending on her, with some even siphoning her funds.
Wendy Williams' Legal Guardian Allegedly Deprived Her Of Food
The videos from Frankel come after Williams' close pal, Regina Shell, spoke out against the former show host's treatment under her legal guardianship, per the Daily Mail.
Shell alleged that Morrisey restricted Williams' access to her money, meaning that the TV personality would go without food for hours due to waiting for her order to be approved.
"When I was in New York and staying with Wendy in the summer, I noticed … she had no access to her money. Every time she had to do anything she had to pay for, she had to go through the guardian," Shell said during her Monday appearance on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation series "Cuomo."
She added, "And she would call to order her breakfast at 7:30 in the morning with the guardian, and she would take the order, but the order wouldn't show up until sometimes noon. So Wendy wouldn't have any food."
Wendy Williams' Best Friend Finds Her Dementia Diagnosis Questionable
Shell revealed in the interview that she sent the former talk show host food when she returned to her base.
"When I went back to LA, I would have to send her food from Los Angeles to New York for delivery service because she wasn't getting…." she said. "That's what was concerning to me because [Williams] was telling me she didn't have food."
She also questioned Willams' care team diagnosis, which claimed the 59-year-old had dementia and aphasia.
"You know, I've heard from [her] team - and we don't know who the team is - and from Kevin and her nephew, Travis, but no doctor has actually confirmed these diagnoses," Shell noted.
However, she went on to say that it was plausible that Williams did have the ailment, adding that her doubt might be because of her closeness to the TV host.
"Maybe I'm in denial because I'm so close to the issue," Shell continued. "But I don't want to believe that she is in, at this point unproducible. That's not my opinion."