News February 11, 2022
‘Incapacitated’ Wendy Williams’ Bank Asks Judge to Appoint Guardian Over Her Financial Affairs

Wendy Williams’ bank claims the talk show host is an “incapacitated person” who needs a guardian to look over her finances amid her ongoing health issues.
Per documents obtained by Page Six on Thursday, Wells Fargo sent a letter to New York Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth requesting a hearing to determine whether Williams — who has not hosted her daytime talk show since July 2021 due to health issues — needs a guardian to oversee her affairs.
“We are concerned about [Williams’] situation,” Wells Fargo attorney David H. Pikus wrote in a letter. “It is our hope that the Guardianship Part [of the court] will imminently appoint a temporary guardian or evaluator to review the situation and ensure that [Williams’] affairs are being properly handled.”
In a separate letter sent to the judge on Wednesday, Pikus said Wells Fargo “has strong reason to believe” Williams is a “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation” and has requested to keep the case “under seal” to “preserve the confidential nature.”
These letters come in response to Williams’ attorney Celeste N. McCaw’s emergency petition last Friday claiming Wells Fargo had “for more than two weeks” denied Williams access to her “accounts, assets and statements” after her former financial adviser Lori Schiller alleged Williams was “of unsound mind.”
For McCaw’s court documents, Williams had fired Schiller as her adviser due to alleged “malfeasance” involving her accounts as well as “improper conduct in relation to their professional relationship.” McCaw did acknowledge, however, that Williams “continues to rely on Schiller’s advisement.”
In his letter, Pikus claims Schiller had “recently witnessed signs of exploitation, including [Williams’] own expressed apprehensions” about the people around her, adding that “other independent third parties who know [Williams] well… share these concerns.”
However, in response to the Wednesday letter, Williams “denies that she is the victim of undue influence and financial exploitation.”
McCaw has also requested a temporary restraining order against Wells Fargo to restrain the bank “from freezing [Williams’] accounts and interfering with her right to access her financial assets and statements.”
Per court documents obtained by People, if Williams continues to be denied access to her bank accounts, she says she "will be in default of several bill payments, including her mortgages, her marital settlement payment, and employee payroll" and will "continue to suffer imminent and irreparable harm."
In a statement obtained by Page Six on Thursday, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo said, “We deny any allegations of improper actions with respect to Ms. Williams’ accounts and are fully participating in a court process to reach a resolution that is in her best interest. The financial well-being of our clients is at the heart of everything we do.”
Williams and her team have been open about her health issues, which include a recent case of COVID-19, as well as Graves’ disease, an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones, and lymphedema, which causes swelling due to build-up of lymph fluid in the body.
In November, numerous bloggers made a number of startling allegations about Williams’ health.
Tasha K alleged in a livestream that Williams is living in a “safe house” and not in her Manhattan apartment, lost all blood circulation to the bottom of her legs and feet, has “out of control” vertigo, and has early stages of dementia. Toine The Don aka Antoine Edwards has alleged on “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” that, per unspecified reports, Wendy is “confined to a wheelchair,” is battling addiction and alcoholism, and that her return to her show “is not looking good.”
In an interview with The Sun that month, Williams’ brother Tommy Williams Jr. denies that his sister is suffering from early-onset dementia.
“[Wendy has not been] displaying that type of behavior to the family,” he said, adding, “We haven’t had any alerts like that, and I haven’t seen anything like that or have had conversations with her that would lead me to believe that.”
Additionally, Tommy said he and his family “routinely go up and check on Wendy” despite them living in Florida.
“I try to make it up there and my dad speaks with Wendy frequently. So no, we don’t have any concerns concerning her mental state. It’s all physical.”
Earlier that month on Instagram, Williams wrote a note to her fans saying she is “making progress but it’s just one of those things that’s taking longer than we expected.”
“I’m a woman of a certain age, and I know enough to listen to my doctors and will return to my purple chair as soon as we all agree I’m ready. I want to thank all of my staff and our guest hosts for stepping up and stepping in while I can’t be there,” she said.
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