Wendy Williams Reacts To ‘#FreeWendy’ Protests In NYC

Wendy Williams has a lot of supporters standing behind her after she has been vocal about getting out of her guardianship.

via: People

On Tuesday, April 1, people gathered outside the assisted living facility in New York City, where Williams is currently living, to protest her guardianship. A second rally also took place on April 1 in Los Angeles.

As the protests were underway in N.Y.C., Williams, 60, spoke to PEOPLE over the phone while looking out from the window of the facility and noted that it feels "very good" to see the support of her fans up close.

"They have posters and t-shirts," she says taking in the scene as she waves. "I'm standing here and looking out the window because I like things like that. I love nothing better than to stop and pose."

She continues, "It's nice to see regular people, but it's even more important at this time in my life to see media," Williams says. "At this point in life, I can't trust a lot of people and I can't even get into who I can't trust, but there are people that — oh my gosh, I can't trust them as far as I can throw them."

Williams reiterates that the "most important thing" she's questioning is why she's still in a guardianship. "Why am I still a ward? It's been too damn long."

She asserts that it's "long overdue" for her to get out of the legal situation and calls the "memory unit" she's living in a "f------ dump." Adds Williams, "I need you know everything I do, I do right here in this bedroom you know, in this bed."

That said she's feeling optimistic with the recent groundswell among fans. "It will absolutely 1000% happen," she says of ending the guardianship. "When I get out of the situation, I'm staying in New York where I'm comfortable." Also, "I can't wait to fall in love," the former talk show host reveals. "I will not lie about that."

Williams also slams the narratives that have come out about her since she was placed under the guardianship in 2022.

"I can't stand when people talk about my son and me and when people say certain things like I have attorneys and I have this and I have that. Listen, let me tell you something — unless you hear from me [or from] my niece Alex [Finnie] or my friend Suzanne Bass or anybody in my family .... That's [the] real me."

Williams says that "if anybody else is doing the talking" on her behalf, it's "stupid bulls---."

The star gets emotional when she reflects on visiting her father, in Miami for his 94th birthday and notes that she brushes away her tears to stay strong. "Well look, I cry but I get up and I fight, you know I'm saying, that's my motto."

The fliers for the #FreeWendy rally invited Williams' "co-hosts and supporters to unite and advocate for our queen in the media landscape."

“Let’s come together and make our voices heard for Wendy!” it read, along with a link to a petition to “free” her from the conservatorship. The movement surrounding the #FreeWendy hashtag began back in 2022 when she first entered the guardianship.

The former talk show host has been outspoken about her living conditions and restrictions from the outside world in recent months after being placed under a legal guardianship in 2022. In February, Williams, who also has a history of substance abuse, revealed that she has been "in a ward" since her dementia diagnosis in 2023.

“Well, I don't have the freedom to do virtually anything," she said during an appearance on NewsNation’s Banfield. "As far as where I am, I'm on the fifth floor. They call it ‘the memory unit,’ so it's for people who don't remember anything."

"I've met the people who live here and I've been here for almost a year now, and this is very suffocating," she continued, calling it "very lonely.”

Earlier that month, Williams participated in a TubiTV documentary called TMZ Presents: Saving Wendy Williams, in which she spoke to the outlet’s founder, Harvey Levin. Reflecting on the past few years, she revealed she “couldn’t” recall the last time she saw a medical professional.

“I was in Connecticut for a year and I didn't go see anybody. I've been in here for six or seven months and I haven't seen anybody,” she explained.

Despite her guardian claiming that Williams “is cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated,” she told Levin that she feels “fantastic” and is “not incapacitated.”

Then, in March, Williams was removed from the assisted living facility after her health care advocate, Ginalisa Monterrosa, called 9-1-1 and wrote a letter to Adult Protective Services requesting a welfare check. Authorities proceeded to take Williams to the hospital for an evaluation.

“I passed with flying colors!” Williams claimed on a March 11 segment of Good Day New York.

Monterrosa, who accompanied her to the hospital, added: "She had those tests, she’s been deemed she is not incapacitated."

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE on March 27, Monterrosa elaborated on Williams’ hopes for the future, which include letting a jury determine if the guardianship should be terminated following additional mental competency testing.

“This is something that she's been wanting to say, and she just can't wait to get her story out,” Monterroso said. “And at the end of the day, she's going to have a trial by jury, and it will be the jury who will be making the decision.”

On April 1, Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey said the star refused medical testing.

In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, Morrissey claimed that additional medical testing for Williams had been scheduled, but Williams has declined to participate. (Her scheduled appointment was on March 21.)

A source confirmed to PEOPLE that “Sabrina is ready to reschedule the scans and appointments as soon as Wendy is ready to participate.”

During Williams' interview with PEOPLE during the #FreeWendy rally, Williams said she was unaware of the guardian’s claim that she had opted out of recent testing.

“I don’t know anything about that,” she said, before laughing and adding “bulls---. I am open to what I am open to and I can’t talk about it right now.”