The staff of Lifetime‘s Where Is Wendy Williams? set out to document the TV personality’s comeback then dropping her communicate display and disappearing from the population optical.
The result of the sequence in fact are rather other. Rather of chronicling Williams as she reclaimed her legacy, the group pulled again the curtain on what have been occurring in Williams’ day since she used to be positioned below monetary guardianship.
“It really wasn’t until we got into filming and saw the reality of the situation that we were aware that there was something deeper and, ultimately, disturbing, going on in Wendy’s life,” govt manufacturer Mark Ford stated all through the sequence’ panel at Cut-off date’s Contenders TV: Documentary + Unscripted tournament.
RELATED: A+E Networks Argued That Wendy Williams’ Father or mother Sought To “Unconstitutionally Silence” Grievance By means of Struggle To Halt Airing Of Documentary
Since filming, Williams has been receiving remedy for “cognitive issues” at a wellness heart, consistent with her society. Her reps stated in February that the ex-host has number one ambitious aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. A clip proven all through the panel main points a dialog between Williams and her niece Alex, who is making an attempt to give an explanation for to her aunt that there could also be society on her group looking to make the most of her.
Talking of the clip, govt manufacturer Erica Hanson stated: “Alex, that day, was deeply concerned. She was so looking forward to seeing Wendy and hadn’t seen her in over a year. And when she arrived at that apartment, she was devastated. … It was a very challenging and sensitive story.”
RELATED: Contenders TV Doctors + Unscripted – Cut-off date’s Complete Protection
Hanson and Ford affirmative they needed to facilitate ongoing conversations all through the filming procedure to resolve how best possible to inform this sort of growing tale.
Ahead of filming, they’d after all won Williams’ signoff at the complete affair, however as their undertaking persevered, it turned into unclouded that Williams’ consent merely used to be no longer enough quantity to assure that the documentary used to be being ethically produced.
“We had conversations pretty much every day about what we were going to film, what we were not going to film and how transparent, honestly, we wanted to be in how we filmed it,” Ford stated. “That’s why you hear a lot of our voices. And you hear our questions. You hear our process as filmmakers, asking management, asking Wendy, asking those around her, ‘What what’s going on here? What’s really going on?’ Because we were trying and struggling to understand the truth of the situation.”
RELATED: Cut-off date Studio At Contenders Tv 2024 – Lily Gladstone, Jodie Foster, Owen Wilson, Tom Hiddleston, Giancarlo Esposito, Joey King, Joel Kim Booster and Extra
A immense a part of Williams’ tale comes to the monetary guardianship she used to be positioned below just about two years in the past, which provides her minute self-government over her personal funds. It has stored her society distanced from her as smartly.
Hanson and Ford stated that filming The place Is Wendy Williams? has made them extra all for asking questions on conservatorships and the best way they function — which could be a tale to learn unto itself.
RELATED: Cut-off date Contenders Tv 2024 Arrivals & Panels Gallery: Tom Hiddleston, Lily Gladstone, Maya Rudolph, Kali Reis, Jodie Foster, Kurt Russell & Extra
“I really do hope that this film becomes a catalyst for change, whether it’s for Wendy or for others, or at least to pull back the curtain and try to understand more how the system works and doesn’t and how it can impact thousands of people,” Hanson stated.
Take a look at again Monday for the panel video.