TV legend, 60, rides mobility scooter during rare public outing

Wendy Williams was seen riding a mobility scooter in a rare public appearance since retreating from the spotlight after being diagnosed with dementia.

The talk show icon, 60, arrived at Miami International Airport yesterday to attend her father’s birthday and travelled through the terminal on the scooter holding a black bag with labels that read ‘NYC’ and ‘High Maintenance.’

It comes weeks after her family started a $50,000 (£39,000) GoFundMe to ‘return her to her rightful home in Florida’ after being placed under a guardianship. She is currently living in a facility in New York.

Wendy was placed under a court-ordered guardianship in 2022, with Sabrina Morrissey appointed as her guardian.

Documents obtained by the US Sun at the end of 2024 described her as ‘an acclaimed entertainer who, tragically, has been afflicted by early-onset dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.’

They added that after a ‘pattern of disturbing events concerning [Wendy’s] welfare and finances’ financial institution Wells Fargo ‘took the highly unusual step of initiating a guardianship’ for her ‘financial affairs’ in January 2022.

However, in January, Wendy called into the Breakfast Club and sobbed as she discussed her diagnosis, insisting that she is not ‘cognitively impaired’ and that she was currently ‘trapped’ in the facility.

When the Breakfast Cub host asked whether Wendy if she was ‘cognitively impaired and incapacitated’, the Wendy Williams show star replied: ‘Do I seem that way, God damn it! Who I naturally am is who I naturally am!

‘I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying? But I feel like I’m in prison.

‘I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s … There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.’

The GoFundMe fundraiser describes her current situation as ‘deeply isolating’ and alleges her guardian has ‘severed her connections with friends and family’.

According to the description, her family are ‘suffering emotionally as they witness the toll her isolation is taking on her well-being’ but have ‘exhausted their financial resources in their fight against this unjust guardianship’.

The money raised would go towards legal representation.

Last year, ahead of a Lifetime special focusing on the TV host’s health, titled Where Is Wendy Williams?, Wendy’s care team issued a lengthy statement to the public explaining her medical condition.

‘As Wendy’s fans are aware, in the past she has been open with the public about her medical struggles with Graves’ Disease and Lymphedema as well as other significant challenges related to her health,’ it read.

‘Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions.

‘In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).’

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