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The Latest with Loren LoRosa
Exclusive: Wendy Williams Begins Cognitive Testing in Conservatorship Battle, Allegedly: A Happy Birthday?
00:12:05
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- [00:00]
Lauren LaRosa
This is an iHeart podcast. I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody exclusive.
- [00:11]
Charlamagne Tha God
You know, she don't lie about that, right?
- [00:12]
Lauren LaRosa
Lauren came in hot. Hey, y'. All, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. And this is the latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and the conversations that shake the room, baby. Now, today, getting right on into the latest because it is Friday, July 18, 2025, and we are celebrating the legend, the icon, Ms. Wendy Williams. And today we are celebrating her because today is Wendy Williams birthday. Y' all know, we have been having a lot of conversation about Wendy Williams here on the podcast over at the Breakfast Club as well, too, because one of the first interviews that Wendy Williams did about the current conservatorship that she is in, where she gave really, in depth detail about what she was going through, was with us on the Breakfast Club. Here's a little flashback, in case you don't remember. I don't want to make it sad because it is her birthday, but I do want to, you know, take some time to break down, you know, what's going on right now, where we're going and, you know, all the things. So let's take a listen real quick.
- [01:14]
Wendy Williams
I am not cognitively impaired. You know what I'm saying? No. But I feel like I am in prison. You understand what I'm saying? I'm in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s. And even when people are 60 like me, hey, I'm sexy and gorgeous. Look, please. July 18, 1964, honey. But look like I'm. I'm exhausted thinking about what if I can't see my dad for his birthday, you know, at 94, you know, the day after. That is not promised. It's not promised. I want to give my dad some sort of fragrance. You know, I want to go to Sephora and pick and choose what. Right on.
- [01:57]
Lauren LaRosa
Now, this interview started such a shoot, man. It was. When you work on a platform like the Breakfast Club, you know, a nationally syndicated radio show who has been doing what they've been doing for, what, 14, 15 years at this point, you know, when you have certain conversations, they will be everywhere. Like, that is inevitable. But the way that Wendy Williams and, you know, her story at that time was received, I wasn't taken aback by it, but it was definitely something to watch. And the reason why I wasn't taken aback by it is because Wendy Williams, you know, famously in her career, spent a lot of time talking about everybody else and everything they had going on and everything they were dealing with and you know, all the ins and outs and all the. All the secrets up in the corners in the bodies and knowing where they were buried and all the things right. When Wendy Williams divorce hit, I remember being at TMZ and just working and reporting on these stories and be honest with y' all in the beginning, you know, in pitching the fact that I knew that the divorce was coming, my boss at the time had said to me, like, look, you know, we don't really. Because it's a thing. Like a lot of times at outlets, you don't want to report on another outlet or on another personality, because number one, whatever you're reporting, it could be you. So you try to give some grace about that. But also too, it's like, you know, you don't want to. You ain't giving out your platform too freely. But Wendy Williams is Wendy Williams, especially for me, a person growing up in this. So I knew that once divorce was filed, you know, from her ex husband, Kevin Hunter Sr. And you know, there have been conversations about a baby that he had in their marriage and, you know, all of the things mixed in. And being that it was Wendy Williams who had done her career the way she did for so long, I knew it would be a big story. When that story hit and we covered it, it was everywhere. During that time, Wendy Williams was really faced with a decision. And the decision that she made on her show, if you guys remember, was to get into her own business.
- [03:45]
Suzanne
It's been the motto of the Hot Topics bureau since the show was invented during our six week sneak peek 11 years ago. And it's so crazy because now my business is your.
- [03:58]
Wendy Williams
Kind of funny.
- [04:01]
Suzanne
And addressing my sobriety, my addiction head on has really helped me sort out every single compartment of my life. And by the way, I will still commit. Cause you'll forget about my business any moment now. And then I commit that the motto of this show will always be their business is our business.
- [04:26]
Lauren LaRosa
That's right. Which was very like, I saw that and I said, Wendy Williams, as long as she is able to do her show and be here and be a voice will never ever get old like you. No matter who comes up in the media game, you will never surpass where Wendy is because she gets it. She leaned into her own drama. She began having conversations about it on her show. Conversations about being single and figuring out life after. And just all the things right now we fast forward to where she is is now in. In the Breakfast Club conversation. The reason why I knew that that interview was going to be something to watch, to see her be vulnerable in this way about, you know, something she is going through where, you know, she is, you know, alleging that she is so helpless in being taken advantage of. It is a very different position to see a Wendy Williams in since then. If you guys have been following, you know, the coverage that we've been doing here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa, we did a conversation last. The last time I talked about Wendy Williams, I gave you guys a Mother's Day update on Wendy Williams. Make sure you guys go and check out that episode. And it gave you a brief gl into how she spent her mother's Day, which I was told wasn't the best. She sat in her room alone, the same room where she cannot, you know, receive calls in. She can only call out that whole thing right today. It is her birthday and she was actually out last night in New York celebrating. She was with Suzanne, who we all know from the Wendy Williams show because Wendy Williams would show her on camera often. She was her producer that she would kind of do talk backs with sometimes on air. Let's take a listen to Wendy out with Suzanne last night.
- [05:56]
Wendy Williams
Oh my God.
- [05:58]
Charlamagne Tha God
How you doing?
- [06:00]
Wendy Williams
It's my birthday celebration.
- [06:01]
Charlamagne Tha God
Happy birthday, Wendy.
- [06:02]
Wendy Williams
Thank you.
- [06:02]
Charlamagne Tha God
Any plans for your birthday tomorrow?
- [06:05]
Wendy Williams
Celebrating with you?
- [06:06]
Charlamagne Tha God
Yep, I'll be there.
- [06:07]
Wendy Williams
A great friend of mine for my show.
- [06:09]
Charlamagne Tha God
Okay. What are you wishing for on your birthday?
- [06:12]
Wendy Williams
Out of guardianship. Okay.
- [06:20]
Charlamagne Tha God
What do you plan. What do you plan on discussing at dinner?
- [06:23]
Wendy Williams
Hi, Wendy. What to eat? Hey, girl. What to eat? This is my attorney and that's my friend right there too.
- [06:31]
Charlamagne Tha God
All right, enjoy your dinner and happy birthday.
- [06:34]
Lauren LaRosa
Now as we celebrate Wendy and her birthday here today, I think one of the things that's important to have a conversation about is the fact that Wendy Williams life is just way different now. Wendy Williams is still very much under her conservatorship. The fight is still actively going on. We've begin to hear from her in the public a lot less. And I know you guys are wondering why and me trying to bring some clarity to that and some insight on that. I did reach out, I reached out to two people. I reached out to Joe Tacopino who was once serving as her personal attorney. It's been a while since I've spoken to him. So not for sure if that is still his role. Have not heard back from him yet. I reached out to an attorney who was Actually, the who was actually the attorney for Wendy Williams conservator Sabrina Morrissey, but not in her guardianship case, in the case that she has against A and E. That is the case over the lifetime Wendy Williams documentary that Wendy Williams claimed she did not want put out. And all of the things I reached out for updates to all these people. I wanted to know, you know, how was Wendy today? How was she feeling? We saw her out last night. Does she have plans on her actual birthday? Where is her thought process? You know, it's certain things you want to celebrate with certain people, with your family, with your friends. And we have been told when I tried to go and visit Wendy, we had later been told, and it came out when her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, did an interview with Vanity Fair that Wendy was allowed to have family come and see her. So her niece, Alex Finney, and you know, family members, you know, they allege are able to come and see Wendy and all the things. Now, according to the attorney for the A E lawsuit on Sabrina Morrissey's behalf, I reached out to them and said, hi, I'm checking in to see if there's been any movement at all in this case here. Now, before this, the last time I spoke to them was months ago. I said, I know last we spoke, there was a pause requested. And with the pause I'm referring to is the pause in the A E lawsuit. Because Wendy Williams was saying she didn't want the conservatorship. She never wanted this lawsuit. She never wanted all these things. So they wanted to pause. They wanted her to take some tests to prove she is competent to make her own decisions and then move forward with will the lawsuit go on or not? Because she's claiming she was put in a bad position by this lawsuit and she didn't want this. So they said, you know what? Let's take a pause. The. The Sabrina Morris the conservatorship said, let's take a pause. Let's figure out she can make our own decisions and then from there let her make her own decisions if she can. We don't even want to be involved. So that pause has been ongoing for. It's been over six months now. And it was supposed to only last for but so much time, but it's. It's still ongoing. I'm asking, has there been any testing submitted at this point? Because that is last what we talked about you guys are waiting on to then be able to submit to a court. Where are we? What is happening? So they said testing is underway, which is an update, because last I spoke to them and last I spoke to people on Wendy's side, Wendy Williams was refusing to take the test. There were reports of that. And then I had been told from a source close that that is what was happening only because she felt like she had already been tested, she'd already proved her competence, and she didn't want to go through with any more testing. But according to this email, as an update, Wendy Williams, there is testing underway, allegedly testing to make sure that she is not cognitively impaired, that she is not dealing with dementia, frontal lobe dementia, and other things claimed to the point where she cannot make her decisions. The attorney for the guardianship on the A and E lawsuit says the tests are not fully complete, but we think they will be complete soon. Then a report will need to be provided to the court. The AE case is still paused, but it won't stay that way indefinitely. So on Wendy's birthday, you know, it would been such a joyous thing to be able to say, hey, you know, what Wendy wanted from this as far as, like, what her freedom looked like and all those things is what she got. It's her birthday and she's celebrating. But we are here an update that things are moving behind the scenes, but we still haven't gotten to where we wanted to get to. I don't know. I mean, it. It's very. To me, I think it's very clear that Wendy is competent enough to know what's going on and know how she feels, know what she wants, what she doesn't want. Do I think that she will probably need some assistance just because she does deal with, you know, the different health issues that she's talked about. And, you know, she's just an older woman at this point and she is Wendy Williams. So, yes, Wendy Williams, whether the conservatorship was here or not, would have some helping hands. She's Wendy Williams. She's going to need that. But do I think that she should be locked away on her birthday, sitting in a room, limited access to who she can talk to and all those things. No. I do think guard roles are good, especially because she's dealt with and openly talked about dealing with addiction of sorts. But, man, to say, happy Birthday, Wendy Williams, and know that she's probably sitting up in that room trying to figure things out, having conversations on the phone and celebrating through a phone where she can only make a call out saddens me. It does. Yeah, man, I said we wasn't wanting this. On a sad note, Dang, I don't know, there's really no way around it. It's just when you look at where we know Wendy Williams to be and where her life is today, there's no way around the conversation we just had. So I'll keep you guys updated on anything and everything else that I hear, of course, because y' all know that's what we do here on the Latest with Lauren, the Rosa, the podcast. Okay. I tell you guys every single episode that at the end of the day, there's always so much that you can be talking about, and you could be anywhere with anybody talking about it and listening to them talk to you about it. But y' all choose to be right here with me, my lowriders. I appreciate you guys. I will catch you in my next episode. This is an iHeart podcast.