Wendy Williams, Bruce Willis dementia diagnoses spotlight disease
Dr. Daniel Amen spoke with USA TODAY about frontotemporal dementia and what a diagnosis of the incurable disease might look like.
Former talk show host Wendy Williams has been transported to a New York City hospital following a welfare check by the New York Police Department.
The NYPD “responded to a welfare check” at the senior living facility where she lives on Monday, a spokesperson said in a statement to USA TODAY. It continued: “EMS responded and transported a 60 year old female to an area hospital for evaluation.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, for comment.
Morrissey has said, through her lawyers, in court filings that “The Wendy Williams Show” star is “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated” due to the primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia with which she was diagnosed in 2023. However, in recent months, Williams, 60, has disputed the diagnoses in interviews.
Speaking with the Breakfast Club in January, Williams said she is “not cognitively impaired” and that she is “trapped in a conservatorship.” She added, “I feel like I am in prison.”
Last month, Morrissey revealed in a court document addressing comments that Williams “has recently made, as reported in the media, concerning both her own mental capacity” and a lawsuit Morrissey filed against Lifetime last year over the documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?”
Williams would be undergoing a “new medical evaluation” of her condition, Morrisey wrote, noting the former TV star “has now repeatedly stated publicly that she disagrees with her FTD diagnosis.” However, Morrissey added this is a “symptom that is not uncommon for patients with FTD who have impaired awareness even regarding their own impairments.”
Morrissey “believes that it would be prudent for (Williams) to undergo a new medical evaluation that will involve comprehensive neurological and psychological testing by a specialist in the field,” the filing stated.
Williams might appear on “The View” later this week, per a social media post from one of the producers of her talk show, Suzanne Bass.
“Prepping a very special friend for her appearance @theviewabc to air this Friday. #freewendy,” Bass captioned a Sunday Instagram post that included a video of her seemingly on the phone with Williams.
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