Wendy Williams was taken from her New York assisted living facility by ambulance on Monday after police conducted a wellness check. The former talk show host, who has been diagnosed with dementia, reportedly threw a handwritten note out of her fifth-floor window, pleading for help.
“Help! Wendy!!” the note read.
Authorities responded around 11:15 a.m. after the 60-year-old TV icon signaled distress, law enforcement sources told The New York Post. Williams, who has been residing in the facility’s memory ward while battling her court-ordered guardianship, was later seen waving from her window and speaking on the phone.
Shortly after, police escorted Williams out of the building and assisted her into an ambulance. The incident comes amid reports that the former Wendy Williams Show host was set to make a long-awaited return to television.
Williams had planned to appear on ABC’s The View on Friday—marking her first daytime TV appearance in four years. The news was revealed by Suzanne Bass, a former co-executive producer of The Wendy Williams Show, who shared a post on Instagram teasing Williams’ return.
“Prepping a very special friend for her appearance @theviewabc to air this Friday. #freewendy,” Bass wrote, alongside a clip of herself speaking with Williams. However, it remains unclear whether Williams would appear in person or via phone.
Ongoing Guardianship Battle
Williams, who has been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, has been locked in a legal fight to end the guardianship imposed in 2022. Her court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, previously stated that Williams is “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and incapacitated.”
However, Williams has repeatedly denied these claims, asserting in a recent TMZ interview that she is being held in a “prison” and is “not allowed” to leave freely.
In a potential breakthrough, Morrissey recently informed a judge that she would be open to allowing Williams to undergo a new medical evaluation—offering a glimmer of hope in Williams’ fight for independence.