The producers behind the new Wendy Williams documentary are making it clear they would not have filmed the controversial project if they had known the full extent of her health crisis.
As you know, Wendy’s dementia diagnosis was made public mere days before her Lifetime doc premiered on Saturday … highlighting the 59-year-old’s intimate struggles with alcohol abuse and a myriad of other health issues.
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In the doc, the full extent of Wendy’s struggles were revealed … specifically, that she’s dealing with frontotemporal dementia — which may sound familiar as A-list actor Bruce Willis is also currently suffering from the same disease.
In the wake of the doc airing, there’s been backlash against Lifetime/the production company that proceeded with the project — but now the creative team is defending themselves.
Producer Mark Ford told The Hollywood Reporter … the original plan was to follow Wendy between August 2022 and April 2023 while she sobered up and launched a new podcast.
Once it became clear, however, that this wasn’t the story that was going to be told — he says they just went with it and saw what they could capture … but he insists they were never privy to an official medical diagnosis like the one that came down from her team last week.
MF adds, [I]f we had known that Wendy had dementia going into it, no one would’ve rolled a camera.”
The original narrative, he says, was scrapped as Wendy’s health deteriorated … prompting concern from the filmmakers. Wendy’s son Kevin Hunter Jr. later claimed to the cameras that his mother had “alcohol-induced” dementia — different than what had been announced … and well after they were in the thick of production.
And, while Mark is defending that they never would’ve picked up the cameras if they had known about the TV personality’s diagnosis … he’s ultimately pleased that Wendy’s temporary guardian Sabrina Morrissey was unsuccessful in blocking the doc’s premiere.
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Obviously, they’re happy with the end result … and while some think they might’ve crossed a line, the producers seem to be saying they only proceeded with what they knew at the time.