26 February 2024 , 11:03
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Wendy Williams' son has revealed doctors warned him that alcohol was affecting his famous mum's "headspace and her brain".
Wendy, who is most famous for her talk show The Wendy Williams Show in the US, is the subject of a heartbreaking new documentary, Where is Wendy Williams? As part of the documentary, the star's son Kevin Hunter Jr, 23, detailed the TV star's declining health for the first time. After stepping away from the spotlight, Wendy has been diagnosed with dementia.
Speaking on the Lifetime programme, Kevin claims his mum's condition was caused by alcohol. "I was able to really learn more about things going on with my mother internally," he tells cameras, detailing the moments leading up to her diagnosis.
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Kevin opened up about his conversations with doctors (FilmMagic)He added: "They basically said that because she was drinking so much, it was starting to affect her headspace and her brain." Opening up about the verdict given by medical professionals, Kevin said: "So, I think they said it was alcohol-induced dementia."
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Wendy's team insisted in a press release that she was given her diagnosis in 2023, but her family's version of events tells a different story. The former talk show host's niece Alex Finnie revealed she was told of her aunt's devastating diagnosis in 2022.
"All I know is that it was dementia," she explained. "You look back at little things, and it's a slow roll. It's little things like, 'When's your birthday again?' You know? 'What's his name again?' -But after seeing my aunt and really spending time with her in a state where she's in right now, I quickly realised that things were just not normal."
She added: "It's heartbreaking. When it's come to my aunt's dementia, there are three things that didn't help her: divorce, the pandemic and then losing my grandmother."
A press release read: "In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Receiving a diagnosis has enabled Wendy to receive the medical care she requires."
Wendy Williams has been diagnosed with dementiaDespite suffering from aphasia and dementia, which can affect speech and self-care abilities, Wendy's team has said she can still "do many things for herself." and keeps her "trademark sense of humour." There have been rumours that Wendy is being taken advantage of due to a complicated conservatorship situation.
However, Wendy's niece Alex dismissed these claims on Good Morning America, even though her family was "shut out" during the production process. She stated: "First and foremost, my aunt is the executive producer of this documentary and she said, 'Now is the perfect time because I want to take ownership of my story.'"
However, later on The View, she confessed that a "wall went down and the family was blocked out" when the documentary started filming. When Alex does get to chat with her aunt, she shared: "She sounds really good and I think that honestly has been one of the best parts about being here and talking about this now because it's so heavy, but she sounds really good I haven't seen her, but we're able to have full conversations.
"She's excited about her future, you know, she talks about the pulls of getting back to work." Alex commented that "every cylinder is not firing as it should be" for Wendy, reminding us something wasn't quite right. She also mentioned that "people are going to see is a broken woman who has had the world on her shoulders for so long and just cracked" when they tune into the documentary.