Months after Wendy Williams was hit with some legal woes, the former talk show host’s family is speaking out, claiming they still have no access to her.
Sources close to the situation told PEOPLE that the family is being denied any contact with Williams, who is under a court-ordered guardianship due to her primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.
“Wendy Williams’ family is unable to speak on her current condition and location due to ongoing litigation and the fact that they have largely been denied contact,” the insider explained. “But they are all rooting and praying for Wendy and want to express their well wishes as she celebrates her 60th birthday.”
The source further pointed out that Williams “was, is, and always” will be an icon.
Sabrina Morrissey, who is Wendy Williams’ court-ordered guardian, notably did not respond to the media outlet’s request to comment.
PEOPLE further reports that Williiams’ family has been struggling to be in contact with her since April 2022, when the court-ordered guardianship began.
Earlier this year, Wendy Williams’ sister, Wonda Finnie, stated she wasn’t made aware of her diagnosis after she was placed in a facility to be treated for “cognitive issues.”
Finner also noted at the time that the family had not received information on Williams’ diagnosis since the fall of 2021. That was when she was spending time with family.
“When she was in Florida, there were a number of people involved. Even beyond family, there were doctors involved, people in Wendy’s professional world that were involved,” Finnie shared. “She had a health team in place, nurses in place and she had family in place. She was getting healthier.”
Wendy Williams’ Family Previously Alleged Her Court-Ordered Guardian Is the Only Person Who Has Unfettered Access to Her
Wendy Williams’ family claimed the only person who has “unfettered” access to the former talk show host is her guardian.
“How did she go from this aunt or sister that we love and is healthy one minute to this person who’s in and out of the hospital?” Finnie asked. “How is that system better than the system the family could put in place? I don’t know.”
Finnie continued, “I do know that this system is broken. I hope that at some point, Wendy becomes strong enough where she can speak on her own behalf.”
Morrissey previously called out Lifetime parent company A&E for its docuseries Where is Wendy Williams? for “shamelessly” exploiting Wendy amid her health struggles. She also filed a lawsuit claiming the docuseries portrayed Williams in an extremely demeaning and undignified manner.”
Although Morrissey claimed that she was unaware of the docuseries’ key focus, its executive producer, Mark Ford, stated otherwise. He pointed out “Wendy’s attorneys and the guardianship attorneys were consulted and signed off on” the project.
“The film was signed off on by Wendy, her management, her attorneys, the guardianship,” Ford noted. “They were aware of the filming all the way through. So, we did go by the book and get all the permissions that we needed to get. We went into this film thinking it was one thing, and the truth turned out to be another. Once we started seeing the truth of the situation, we couldn’t ignore it. And the film had to go in the direction of the truth.”