Wendy Williams Hit With Family Tragedy Amid Her Fight For Freedom

Amid her fight for freedom from her conservatorship, Wendy Williams has been thrown a curveball.

The media personality has one less family member earthside, amid her ongoing health drama. The news of her father comes shortly after the headlines of her fight for freedom from her court-appointed guardian came to light.

Wendy Williams was initially diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia over two years ago and has been under a court-appointed guardianship since May 2022. Recent tests, however, reveal that she does not have the brain disease, affirming her stance concerning the conservatorship arrangement.

The Williams family is at a state of heightened grief as the patriarch of the family passes on. Wendy's father, Thomas Williams, has died at the age of 94. The sad news hit the media after Alex Finnie, Wendy's niece, made an emotional tribute to her grandfather on social media.

She described his time on earth as "years of extraordinary love, strength, brilliance, and wisdom," after declaring that she would always love him, noting that her announcement of his demise is made with a heavy heart. 

"I know he is in heaven with Nana, watching over our family and continuing to guide us as he always has," the news anchor wrote, adding sweet words describing her late grandfather. In her words, Thomas was a man of intellect, an educator, and an integral contributor to the family and community.

Finnie shared how much she would miss his presence and hinted at how his death had taken a toll on her. She closed off her statement, writing "Give Nana a kiss for me [red heart emoji]," referring to Wendy's mom, who passed away back in 2020.

The news anchor'semotional Instagram post has reached a large audience within a short time frame. The reel attached to the lengthy caption featured photos of Thomas at different stages of life, spanning from his younger days to when he was all gray. Some clips showed the father of three dancing, singing, and full of life.

The carousel of photos had Stevie Wonder's "I'll be loving you always" playing as the background music and also featured a snap of Thomas's published books and another showing him at a book signing.

Fans flooded the comment section with condolence messages to Finnie and the Williams family as a whole. Many sent words of love and prayers for the family, while others penned their feelings from watching the 94-year-old on Wendy's TV show.

"Heartfelt condolences to you, Wendy & your entire family. Ican tell he was a blessing to your family. May he rejoice in heaven with your grandmother," a user wrote.

The cause of his death was not specified in the post. The comments, counting close to a thousand, were filled with several hearts and teary-eyed emojis.

Thomas tied the knot with the love of his life, Shirley, and they remained married for sixty-three years before she died in 2020. They were keen on education, having three master's degrees between them, and they both worked as educators.

Shirley worked as a special education teacher while Thomas was a school principal, and even became the first black school administrator in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Their marriage was blessed with three children: Wanda, Wendy, and Thomas Williams Jr. Wendy's relationship with her siblings has been rocky through the years. Page Six reported that Wendy previously disclosed that her family had higher expectations of her older sister than they did of her.

While Wanda went on to build a career as an attorney, educator, and manager, her little sister earned a degree from Northeastern University to appease their parents before pursuing a media career.

The media personality's younger brother, Tommy, previously called her claiming she did not attend their mom's funeral. He attributed the changes in her attitude and her disconnect from the family to her career pursuit.

"She's caught up in what everyone else is caught up in, how her life is panning out. Just be a family member, just be a daughter, but I guess she's not going to be either, I guess she's going to be a show host, but a nice role would be a daughter, because our parents have done everything for us," Tommy expressed in an interview.

Wendy was allegedly diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023 and was placed in a long-term care facility. Due to her diagnosis, she was prevented from moving freely on her own and was assigned a guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, whom she receives clearance from before being allowed to leave her facility.

Last December, the 61-year-old underwent a series of tests to ascertain the extent of her diagnosis, and contrary to previous findings, the results showed that Wendy did not suffer from the brain disease as initially reported. 

The Blast shared that the new results were then sent to her legal team, and her representative, Joe Tacopina, began working on regaining her freedom. He confirmed that he would demand a trial to challenge the court-ordered guardianship ruling for his client.

Due to the alleged condition, Weny was not allowed to control her finances, and everything was placed under Morrissey. Unbeknownst to her, she was spending $25,000 in rent for her apartment in Coterie while she believed it was $18000.

The mother of one was made aware of her financial situation through the media, and this raised doubts in her mind that Morrissey was having a go at her wealth.

The Blast also shared that the 61-year-old was completely unaware of how much her guardian spends on her bills, while giving her about $300 weekly as an allowance. She revealed that she spent her meager allowance on magazines and Twizzlers.

Discovering that her guardian was not handling her finances well became a source of worry for Wendy, adding to the stress of her medical bills, lack of income, and illness.