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FEARS FOR WENDY WILLIAMS, CLAIMS HAS ONLY $2 IN BIZARRE VIDEO · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:00
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
0:05
Speaker 2: Fears for superstar Wendy Williams as she claims she has
0:10
Speaker 2: only two dollars to her name in a bizarre video.
0:16
Speaker 2: Is she living like a prisoner under a highly restrictive guardianship?
0:23
Speaker 2: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for
0:26
Speaker 2: being with us.
0:28
Speaker 3: Talk show host and media personality Wendy Williams, wrapped up
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Speaker 3: in a controversial conservatorship denying her dementia diagnosis amidst a
0:35
Speaker 3: legal battle, legal.
0:38
Speaker 2: Battle that put its in very mild late, claims that
0:41
Speaker 2: she is living like a prisoner in a highly restrictive
0:45
Speaker 2: guardianship with.
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Speaker 1: Only two dollars to her name.
0:48
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, let's hear from the horse's mouth,
0:50
Speaker 2: no kind of money I have.
0:52
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, I only have two dollars.
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Speaker 2: Two dollars to her name. That is from Fat Joe's insta. Now,
1:01
Speaker 2: what is happening with Wendy? Listen?
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Speaker 4: I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I'm saying. No,
1:08
Speaker 4: but I feel like I am in prison. I'm in
1:11
Speaker 4: this place where the people are in their nineties and
1:14
Speaker 4: their eighties.
1:15
Speaker 5: Wendy Williams, the former talk show host known for her
1:18
Speaker 5: catchphrase how You're Doing, has been under a court ordered
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Speaker 5: guardianship since twenty twenty two after being diagnosed with frontal
1:26
Speaker 5: temporal dementia and aphasia. However, the Star is disputing both
1:31
Speaker 5: her diagnosis and a need for a guardian. Williams calls
1:35
Speaker 5: her life a prison and accuses her guardian of emotional abuse.
1:39
Speaker 1: What is happening with Wendy Williams?
1:43
Speaker 2: Is she suffering from a mental illness dementia? Or is
1:49
Speaker 2: she caught like a prisoner trapped in a highly restrictive
1:54
Speaker 2: conservatorship where people are just trying to make money off
1:59
Speaker 2: Wendy Williams joining me in All Star panel to make
2:03
Speaker 2: sense of what we know. Tonight, you were just hearing
2:06
Speaker 2: from our friends at the Breakfast Club on Power one
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Speaker 2: oh five point one when Wendy called in straight out
2:13
Speaker 2: to special guest joining us.
2:14
Speaker 1: It's James Batuska.
2:17
Speaker 2: He is joining us as a senior US show Buzz
2:20
Speaker 2: reporter at dailymail dot com. James, you have been in
2:25
Speaker 2: touch with not only Wendy herself, but her son. First
2:29
Speaker 2: of all, explain to me what is being alleged about
2:34
Speaker 2: her mental state. I know Wendy, she has invited me
2:37
Speaker 2: onto her show many many times.
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Speaker 1: And I find this very hard to believe.
2:42
Speaker 6: You know, what Nancy is being alleged is that you know,
2:44
Speaker 6: she's incapable of, you know, caring for herself. And she's
2:46
Speaker 6: you know, she's she's not you know, medically able to
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Speaker 6: to to just kind of live her life as you know,
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Speaker 6: on her own, you know, under her own terms. And
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Speaker 6: you know, actually I spoke to us, I spoke to
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Speaker 6: Wendy in October, and this is prior to you know,
3:00
Speaker 6: all of a lot of the reporters that have spoke
3:02
Speaker 6: to her, and I was instantly surprised at how normal
3:06
Speaker 6: she sounded. You know, during our conversation it was about
3:08
Speaker 6: twenty thirty minutes long, and she was very coherent. She
3:10
Speaker 6: remembered things that you know from from her past and
3:12
Speaker 6: specific details.
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Speaker 1: We talked about Diddy.
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Speaker 6: She remembered exact locations and and it didn't seem any
3:17
Speaker 6: different than the Wendy that you know that that that
3:19
Speaker 6: were used to seeing on on on TV. You know,
3:21
Speaker 6: she sounded a little bit yeah, sad, you know, but
3:24
Speaker 6: she you know, she was she has all the right
3:26
Speaker 6: to be, and you know, and during the time, and
3:27
Speaker 6: you know, during her during our conversation, you know, she
3:30
Speaker 6: even gave it, you know, how you doing, you know,
3:32
Speaker 6: So it was it was really shocking to see, you know,
3:35
Speaker 6: all of the the what kind of came about after
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Speaker 6: that November, you know, with all these people speaking out
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Speaker 6: about her dementia and everything like that, because I just
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Speaker 6: didn't get that impression. I'm not a doctor, you know.
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Speaker 6: But but from our conversation for about twenty thirty minutes,
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Speaker 6: I was like, she sounds so normal, you know. And
3:48
Speaker 6: I told my editor this and I was like, are
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Speaker 6: we sure this is the And she's like, are you
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Speaker 6: sure this is Wendy and like, no, it's Wendy and
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Speaker 6: her voice stick out anywhere.
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Speaker 2: So yeah, it was, uh, okay, that's really odd, James,
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Speaker 2: because I had the very same experience the last time
4:00
Speaker 2: Wendy kindly invited me onto her program. As a matter
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Speaker 2: of fact, predating that Wendy invited me own on her
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Speaker 2: program to announce this crime stories, I went on and
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Speaker 2: announced it that it was happening and that we were
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Speaker 2: launching launching it with Wendy, right so, and then the
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Speaker 2: last time I was with her, I had the very
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Speaker 2: same experience that you're talking about completely lucid.
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Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just having a hard time. But
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Speaker 1: we're lay people. What do we know.
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Speaker 2: You're a Hollywood reporter, I'm a trial lawyer.
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Speaker 1: We're not doctors. But we can see right watch this
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Speaker 1: costume contest. We do whatever year. So it was a
4:49
Speaker 1: lot of fun.
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Speaker 7: Let's get started our first caress.
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Speaker 5: William's health issues become apparent in the later years of
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Speaker 5: The Wendy Williams Show. Williams has always been open about
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Speaker 5: her cocaine addiction in the eighties and nineties, which she
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Speaker 5: overcame with no treatment. The host also diagnosed with Graves disease,
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Speaker 5: which causes hyperthyroidism. In twenty seventeen, Williams passes out during
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Speaker 5: a taping of the show, and in the following years
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Speaker 5: fills months of several seasons with a guest host due
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Speaker 5: to struggles with her health issues.
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Speaker 2: You were earlier seeing a clip from the official Wendy
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Speaker 2: Williams Show, joining me as I said an all star panel.
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Speaker 2: In addition to James Vittuska from Daily Mail, I want
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Speaker 2: to go now to doctor John Delatory, renowned psychologist mediator
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Speaker 2: specializing in forensic psychology. Doctor Delatory if she is not
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Speaker 2: mentally impaired, and that's probably the wrong phraseology for it.
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Speaker 1: Then somebody's in a whole heap of trouble.
6:03
Speaker 2: Okay, this is bringing back all of the memories of
6:06
Speaker 2: the Free Britney movement. And whether you like watching her
6:09
Speaker 2: twirl around naked on Insta or not, her life choices.
6:15
Speaker 1: That many people may not approve of. I don't care
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Speaker 1: one way.
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Speaker 2: Or the other about her life choices does not mean
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Speaker 2: that she is mentally incapacitated and needs a conservator just because.
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Speaker 1: You don't like what she does. That means nothing.
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Speaker 2: Okay, only a shrink not the church lady is set
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Speaker 2: to make that decision. Same thing here, But I've got
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Speaker 2: an issue, doctor John Delatory. All we know about is
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Speaker 2: graves disease combined with past drug use and saying cocaine, well,
6:50
Speaker 2: that is kind of euphemistic.
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Speaker 1: It was crack crack.
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Speaker 2: Wendy was a crack addict and look how she overcame
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Speaker 2: it and what she became, I mean, a superstar in
7:03
Speaker 2: the talk industry. So how can Graves, which I don't
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Speaker 2: believe affects your male ability, and a long ago addiction
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Speaker 2: equal this draconian conservatorship.
7:17
Speaker 8: The first thing that any kind of mental health professional
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Speaker 8: is going to be doing when they're asked to conduct
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Speaker 8: a guardianship evaluation is a medical examination where we're looking
7:27
Speaker 8: at whether or not someone is gravely disabled meaning that
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Speaker 8: they can't care for themselves at all due to some
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Speaker 8: mental disease or defect, or they're persistently or acutely disabled,
7:37
Speaker 8: meaning that their mental disease or defect kind of impairs
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Speaker 8: them when it's floorally an issue but not necessarily their
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Speaker 8: entire life, that with enough treatment they can care for themselves.
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Speaker 8: The problem that we.
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Speaker 2: Run in SAE, I don't know what you just said.
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Speaker 2: That was a lot of no offense psychobabble. Please speak
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Speaker 2: regular English. How can graves disease which does not affect
8:04
Speaker 2: your male capacity? To my understanding and a long ago
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Speaker 2: crack habit landy you in a conservatorship because we hear
8:12
Speaker 2: her speaking. You just heard James Rattuska state he has
8:15
Speaker 2: been speaking with her recently and she's extremely lucid.
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Speaker 8: Right, But we're not speaking with her every single day.
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Speaker 8: It's certainly possible that there are times in which she
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Speaker 8: is better off than in other times. It's often called
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Speaker 8: sundowning where individuals who are experiencing high levels of dementia
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Speaker 8: are perfectly capable of interacting well enough right to overcome
8:37
Speaker 8: the deficits in Graves. Disease, along with hyperthyroidism, can in
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Speaker 8: fact impair cognitive abilities, which can impair personality functioning. There
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Speaker 8: are these different kinds of neurological way.
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Speaker 2: Wait wait, affect personality functioning. That okay again, I'm not
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Speaker 2: a shurnk. You are personality functioning.
9:01
Speaker 1: Okay?
9:01
Speaker 2: Does that mean she can't get up and take a
9:04
Speaker 2: bath and put her clothes on. Maybe if she's hungry,
9:07
Speaker 2: walk in the kitchen and open a can.
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Speaker 1: What is personality functioning? What does that mean?
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Speaker 8: It can sometimes turn an individual more aggressive than they
9:16
Speaker 8: have been from before. Maybe they're more high risk, meaning
9:19
Speaker 8: that they engage in more problematic behaviors than they had
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Speaker 8: from before.
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Speaker 9: Right.
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Speaker 8: The frontal lobe is the part that controls kind of
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Speaker 8: the higher order functioning. It's what separates us, Doctor Jeraldtorry.
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Speaker 2: Nothing you are saying makes me think she can't take
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Speaker 2: care of herself. If she's more aggressive. People on her
9:38
Speaker 2: show would probably like that even more. Speaking of the issue,
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Speaker 2: I want you to see just a clip from Lifetimes,
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Speaker 2: where is Wendy Williams.
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Speaker 7: That.
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Speaker 1: Nobody can do it like Wendy. No one. People love Wendy.
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Speaker 10: You are stars.
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Speaker 11: She was in her living room every single day for
10:01
Speaker 11: twelve years, yes.
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Speaker 1: And that's when people responded to her authenticity.
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Speaker 8: And then at the peak of her career, she was
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Speaker 8: gone again.
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Speaker 2: That's from my friends at Lifetime and their special Where
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Speaker 2: is Wendy Williams. I'm asking the same question while many
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Speaker 2: are turning their backs on Wendy and pretending this isn't happening,
10:23
Speaker 2: It's happening. And if this can happen to Wendy, you
10:27
Speaker 2: don't think it can happen to you. I was at
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Speaker 2: a big, gosh, a giant symposium and was approached by
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Speaker 2: about twenty people, middle aged. It looked like moms and dads,
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Speaker 2: and they were all dressed up in business clothing to
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Speaker 2: meet me, to ask me something, to ask for help.
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Speaker 2: All of their parents had been put in draconian, harsh
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Speaker 2: conships against the will of the parents and the children,
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Speaker 2: and they wanted help to get the parents out. And
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Speaker 2: guess what, it worked. We are not turning our back
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Speaker 2: on Wendy, but I need to know what's really happening.
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Speaker 1: Listen.
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Speaker 8: I said, you're cognitively impaired and you're incapacitating.
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Speaker 4: Do I see that way?
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Speaker 8: You've been calling me.
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Speaker 1: Five times a day for the last two weeks.
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Speaker 3: No, you don't see that.
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Speaker 11: January twenty twenty two, Williams Bank freezes her accounts after
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Speaker 11: documenting a pattern of unusual and disturbing financial events. Wells
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Speaker 11: Fargo requests a New York Supreme Court hearing to determine
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Speaker 11: if Williams is in need of a guardian. A judge
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Speaker 11: determines Williams is incapable of making informed decisions and appoints
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Speaker 11: a temporary financial guardian, Sabrina Morrissey. Williams attempts to return
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Speaker 11: to work in late November with plans to rely podcast,
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Speaker 11: but the show never airs, and by March twenty twenty three,
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Speaker 11: Williams virtually disappears from the public.
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Speaker 2: That earlier klet was from our friends at breakfast Club
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Speaker 2: Power one oh five point one. Now joining me an
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Speaker 2: expert in this field, Elizabeth mcinturf. She is a veteran
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Speaker 2: lawyer specializing in guardianship issues, and she is a partner
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Speaker 2: at Gerzer Salvach. Elizabeth, thank you for joining us while
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Speaker 2: we can make our own layperson civilian observations. I've talked
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Speaker 2: to Wendy. James Vittuska has talked to Wendy much more
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Speaker 2: recently than myself, and she's totally lucid. So how is
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Speaker 2: it that a bank? I mean, I'm sure banks don't
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Speaker 2: like a lot of decisions of their clients make over spending,
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Speaker 2: going into their.
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Speaker 1: Credit line, going bankrupt, blah blah blah.
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Speaker 2: It goes on and on and on, gambling, fiscal responsibility.
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Speaker 2: So I'm sure the bank doesn't like that. But how
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Speaker 2: does a bank walk in and say I want to
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Speaker 2: have a hearing and get her committed?
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Speaker 1: How does that happen? Elizabeth?
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Speaker 12: So that's not quite what the bank did. The bank
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Speaker 12: noticed that there is a safety concern regarding Miss Williams
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Speaker 12: and her accounts. I think in particular, there was some
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Speaker 12: unusual spending, and oftentimes banks are kind of first line
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Speaker 12: of defense when somebody is being exploited financially. You think
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Speaker 12: of the scammers that we get online, the emails that
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Speaker 12: were answering, phone calls are picking up. Is they're the
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Speaker 12: ones who are seeing mom and dad come in and
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Speaker 12: withdrawing their entirely live eatings so that's what they have
13:41
Speaker 12: at least alleged stay saw here. They then petition the
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Speaker 12: court to review whether or not Miss Williams needed a
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Speaker 12: temporary guardianship. They did not ask for her to be committed,
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Speaker 12: as my understanding, but for the court to kind of
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Speaker 12: undertake the process to see if that there was a
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Speaker 12: safety protocol needed for Missilians, including a temporary or permanent guardian,
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Speaker 12: and the court ultimately found that she did.
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Speaker 1: Okay, let me understand something, Elizabeth Wells.
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Speaker 2: Fargo swoops in when they say that they see, and
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Speaker 2: I have no reason to doubt what they're saying, unusual spending.
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Speaker 2: What constitutes unusual spending to the point that they freeze
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Speaker 2: your accounts and ask for a judge to grant put
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Speaker 2: you in a conservatorship, which they said is temporary.
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Speaker 1: But it's been a long time.
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Speaker 12: So it often depends on their circumstances. And in this case,
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Speaker 12: they certainly knew Miss Williams very well. They historically knew
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Speaker 12: her spending and how and who had access to her account.
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Speaker 12: My understanding is in this situation that was kind of
14:50
Speaker 12: a far cry from how things were typically done and
14:54
Speaker 12: are more kind of relatable your in my everyday life situation,
14:57
Speaker 12: and it might be again because ma, our dad, our
15:00
Speaker 12: neighbors going in and with the money orders to send abroad.
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Speaker 12: Those are the type of things that raise red flags
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Speaker 12: on a financial institution that may cause them under guidelines,
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Speaker 12: to freeze an account or to ask the court to
15:15
Speaker 12: step in and intervene.
15:17
Speaker 2: Why is Wendy Williams being kept a prisoner her words,
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Speaker 2: not mine in an extremely draconian or harsh conservatorship now
15:29
Speaker 2: claiming she quote lives like a prisoner and has only
15:32
Speaker 2: two dollars to her name left of her immense fortune
15:37
Speaker 2: that she earned and squirrelled away. Can one pivotal incident
15:44
Speaker 2: trigger a breakdown that lands you in a conservatorship? That
15:51
Speaker 2: has been alleged about superstar Britney Spears.
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Speaker 1: Listen.
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Speaker 13: She was rushed to the hospital. Police say she was
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Speaker 13: under the influence. The drama occurred after a three hour
16:01
Speaker 13: standoff over custody of spears children. Brittany's supposed to turn
16:05
Speaker 13: boys over to ex husband Kevin Fetterline, but Fetterline eventually
16:09
Speaker 13: calls police. Brittany seen outside the gates of her home
16:13
Speaker 13: two and a half hours after police first showed up.
16:16
Speaker 2: That incident with swat teams and helicopters hovering overhead. Brittany
16:23
Speaker 2: and her bathtub, clutching her two little boys, not wanting
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Speaker 2: to give them up? Did that trigger a series of
16:30
Speaker 2: events that lands her in.
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Speaker 1: A multi year conservatorship?
16:35
Speaker 2: Now what could have triggered problems for Wendy Williams?
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Speaker 1: Can I say the husband? Listen?
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Speaker 14: Twenty nineteen, after twenty years of marriage, Wendy Williams files
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Speaker 14: for divorce from her manager and husband, Kevin Hunter, after
16:50
Speaker 14: discovering he fathered a child with another woman. Williams does
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Speaker 14: not take the betrayal well and begins drinking heavily. Just
16:56
Speaker 14: before the divorce, Williams reveals she's been in rehab for
17:00
Speaker 14: some time. During the treatment, Williams is diagnosed with alcohol
17:04
Speaker 14: induced brain damage. By twenty twenty one, doctor say Williams,
17:07
Speaker 14: fifty seven has alcohol induced dementia.
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Speaker 2: What are they just throwing everything in the pot and
17:13
Speaker 2: seeing what boils over? We're hearing Graves, We are hearing
17:19
Speaker 2: prior addiction to crack many many years ago, and now
17:24
Speaker 2: this can it all be true? Where is this coming from?
17:29
Speaker 2: Can one pivotal incident trigger a multi year conservatorship where
17:36
Speaker 2: you have no control over your finances or your own life.
17:40
Speaker 2: To James Vetuska joining us dailymail dot com, the husband.
17:45
Speaker 2: Can we start with that Kevin Hunter who seemed to
17:50
Speaker 2: attach himself to the Wendy Williams show as what some
17:53
Speaker 2: sort of a producer. Then he had basically is living
18:00
Speaker 2: to full time but part time with his mistress a
18:02
Speaker 2: few miles away from Wendy's home. Does he actually have
18:07
Speaker 2: his name on the mailbox? You can drive by and
18:09
Speaker 2: see it from.
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Speaker 6: When I hear you know, he actually did it at
18:12
Speaker 6: the time, you know, when when when those allegations were made.
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Speaker 3: I don't know if he still does.
18:15
Speaker 6: I haven't driven by there myself, but you know, a
18:17
Speaker 6: lot of it, a lot of it can be placed
18:18
Speaker 6: on you know, he kind of led her dry and
18:21
Speaker 6: in a way, you know, he was he was working
18:22
Speaker 6: on the show with her, he was in you know,
18:24
Speaker 6: executive producer role, but he had his fingers kind of
18:26
Speaker 6: in all of her money, you know. So it's kind
18:28
Speaker 6: of interesting when you know, she knew that he was
18:30
Speaker 6: having an affair. Everybody knew that he was having an affair.
18:32
Speaker 1: Wait and then and then.
18:33
Speaker 2: Will whoa whoa wait wait wait wait, you know it's
18:36
Speaker 2: one thing for your husband to cheat, it's another thing
18:41
Speaker 2: to just put it all out there, because you know what,
18:44
Speaker 2: A lot of times is easier for people to live
18:47
Speaker 2: with rose colored glasses.
18:49
Speaker 1: Right.
18:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe she didn't want to fully confront her husband
18:55
Speaker 2: was slung up with somebody else.
18:56
Speaker 1: Maybe she didn't want to admit that. But when he
18:59
Speaker 1: puts the name on the mail.
19:00
Speaker 2: Lbox and has a baby with the mistress, and then
19:05
Speaker 2: I believe somebody out of it and it made all
19:08
Speaker 2: the headlines.
19:09
Speaker 1: She had to confront it. Do you remember that spectacle?
19:14
Speaker 6: I do? Yeah, No, absolutely, I absolutely do. And I
19:16
Speaker 6: feel like there's a difference between you know, confronting an
19:19
Speaker 6: affair and and you know, and and and suffering from
19:21
Speaker 6: a severe mental illness. You know, I don't necessarily believe
19:24
Speaker 6: that you know that that is anyone who would be
19:28
Speaker 6: in that.
19:29
Speaker 1: James, are you a shrink? Do you have your psyche
19:32
Speaker 1: actual degree?
19:33
Speaker 2: Did you go to medal school medical school and it
19:35
Speaker 2: specialized in psychiatry?
19:36
Speaker 7: No?
19:36
Speaker 1: Did you did?
19:37
Speaker 6: Not?
19:38
Speaker 1: No?
19:38
Speaker 2: You didn't, neither did I? So let's go to a shrink.
19:42
Speaker 2: Doctor John Delatory. Can a single pivotal moment like the
19:47
Speaker 2: swat team breaking down your door helicopters hovering overhead, when
19:50
Speaker 2: you don't want to give your children back, when you
19:52
Speaker 2: want to keep your babies, or when you are.
19:55
Speaker 1: Forced to confront on a public forum.
19:59
Speaker 2: That you're husband has been cheating for years and actually
20:02
Speaker 2: has given birth and slung up at the mistress's house,
20:04
Speaker 2: choosing her over you, all right, when he was her
20:09
Speaker 2: love object for many, many years, her rock, her husband.
20:13
Speaker 2: I mean, that's huge, and it's seemed to trigger a
20:18
Speaker 2: series of events that have now landed her and this conservatorship.
20:22
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think so. Can it be the impetus? It
20:25
Speaker 8: absolutely can. And can it, you know, compel someone to
20:28
Speaker 8: start drinking alcohol excessively?
20:30
Speaker 13: Yes.
20:30
Speaker 8: Then the other problem that we have is her long
20:33
Speaker 8: term history of crack cocaine abuse, which already Swiss cheeses
20:37
Speaker 8: the brain. Now all of this other stuff at her
20:39
Speaker 8: being in a conservatorship for years upon end. That's the
20:42
Speaker 8: problem with the program itself. That's the problem with conservatorship
20:46
Speaker 8: and guardianship. Is there no mechanism to eject if what
20:50
Speaker 8: you're really dealing with is trauma and grief and other
20:53
Speaker 8: kinds of addiction issues that once the person gets the
20:56
Speaker 8: appropriate treatment, that can actually get out of That's what
21:00
Speaker 8: Wendy Williams is challenging is the ejection part, the escape.
21:04
Speaker 8: How can she escape? All this other stuff is certainly
21:07
Speaker 8: possible to get you there, but escaping is Wendy Williams's
21:11
Speaker 8: biggest issue.
21:20
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace to doctor Dennis C. Dougherty
21:25
Speaker 1: joining us, addiction specialist.
21:27
Speaker 2: Founder and medical director of Right Relief Health, Doctor Dougherty,
21:34
Speaker 2: thank you for being with us. How is a prior addiction?
21:38
Speaker 2: And she admitted she had gone to a sober house
21:41
Speaker 2: more recently. The crack cocaine addiction was long ago, but
21:46
Speaker 2: more recently she admitted she was in a sober house
21:50
Speaker 2: after this turn of events with her husband such as
21:53
Speaker 2: he was in a sober house and had started drinking again.
21:58
Speaker 2: That was the admission. How can alcohol or a prior
22:04
Speaker 2: drug addiction and crack cocaine it's very powerful, but it
22:09
Speaker 2: was years ago. How does that affect your permanent mental
22:15
Speaker 2: health or does it?
22:16
Speaker 15: You know? Right now we're looking at a different paradigm
22:21
Speaker 15: in how we address substance use disorders, and the treatments
22:27
Speaker 15: today haven't really addressed the real issues. For instance, you
22:34
Speaker 15: know that there'll be a contextual trauma or a precipitating
22:39
Speaker 15: event that might make somebody who's at risk during recovery
22:46
Speaker 15: to drink. And not many years ago, you know you
22:51
Speaker 15: were sent to your AA prison back to the beginning,
22:57
Speaker 15: or in the nineteen fifties hung in a host at
23:00
Speaker 15: Bluer to be better. But the fact is that the
23:07
Speaker 15: very technique they were used, they don't do anything that's
23:11
Speaker 15: helpful to allow the brain to change. So shaming, guilting,
23:17
Speaker 15: and particularly isolating someone is insane scientifically.
23:23
Speaker 2: Guys, is she truly in the throes of dementia? Or
23:30
Speaker 2: did this whole thing get started because the bank feared
23:35
Speaker 2: those people closest to her were bleeding her dry of
23:40
Speaker 2: all her money? Is that a reason to keep her
23:45
Speaker 2: in prison? Her words, not mine. Take a listen to
23:49
Speaker 2: our friends at Lifetime.
23:51
Speaker 1: As her family.
23:53
Speaker 4: We were all sitting on the sidelines watching and she
23:55
Speaker 4: was crying out for help.
23:57
Speaker 1: Did you drink this whole thing today? Keep it there? Okay,
24:00
Speaker 1: keep it there.
24:02
Speaker 16: She has people around who are yes people and allowing
24:05
Speaker 16: this to continue.
24:06
Speaker 1: This is all too much, though, why I have no
24:09
Speaker 1: idea where we are. This doesn't look like anything familiar.
24:13
Speaker 1: I think she's losing memory. Have you guys noticed that?
24:16
Speaker 1: How dare him? I control me? From Lifetimes? Where is
24:21
Speaker 1: Wendy Williams?
24:23
Speaker 3: After her show's cancelation and a shocking dementia diagnosis. In
24:26
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, talk show host Wendy Williams fights for
24:29
Speaker 3: freedom from a conservatorship.
24:33
Speaker 2: It's very hard for many of us to believe that
24:34
Speaker 2: Wendy Williams is so incapacitated that she can't make any
24:40
Speaker 2: of her own decisions and has no access to her
24:43
Speaker 2: own business affairs. Or is Elizabeth McInturff correct that Wills
24:50
Speaker 2: Fargo believes those closest to Wendy are bleeding her dry
24:55
Speaker 2: and she is helpless to stop them for whatever reason.
25:00
Speaker 1: And look at this from Lifetime, Well, lom has.
25:03
Speaker 8: Done a great job making it seem like everything.
25:05
Speaker 1: Is okay always Wendy makes you look here, Laurens, But
25:09
Speaker 1: in reality there's something wrong going. Did you see a
25:13
Speaker 1: neurologist to find out if I'm crazy?
25:17
Speaker 7: Oh my god, No, I can't do this, I can't
25:20
Speaker 7: do this.
25:20
Speaker 8: I have to sit down again.
25:22
Speaker 16: She put in front of Joe and given a guardian
25:25
Speaker 16: that when they took her.
25:26
Speaker 3: Away from works.
25:27
Speaker 2: That from our friends at Lifetime it's their new dot
25:31
Speaker 2: Where is Wendy Williams In the last days, Those around
25:36
Speaker 2: Wendy and Wendy herself speaking out about the way she
25:39
Speaker 2: is living Listen.
25:41
Speaker 14: At the care facility her guardian has placed her in.
25:43
Speaker 14: Williams does not have any of her personal belonging to
25:46
Speaker 14: her electronics. Williams has a phone, but can only make calls.
25:49
Speaker 14: She cannot receive them. Williams cannot leave her room without
25:53
Speaker 14: a staff member unlocking the door, much less make a
25:55
Speaker 14: trip to the store, not that she has any of
25:58
Speaker 14: her own money to spend anyway. Williams is not allowed
26:01
Speaker 14: to travel to her family and visits must be pre approved.
26:05
Speaker 14: Family members are fearful Williams could be moved to a
26:08
Speaker 14: new facility without their knowledge.
26:10
Speaker 1: This is amazing. How is that? If it's to be.
26:15
Speaker 2: Believed happening to Wendy Williams. You know, I remember vividly
26:21
Speaker 2: the Free Brittany movement. No one seems to be speaking
26:26
Speaker 2: out for Wendy Williams to James Battuska joining us seeing
26:30
Speaker 2: your showbiz reporter at dailymail dot com.
26:33
Speaker 1: Are those living conditions that we just heard? Is that true?
26:38
Speaker 9: Well?
26:38
Speaker 6: You know, actually I had a conversation with the family
26:41
Speaker 6: who I'm in constant contact with Wendy's you know, direct family,
26:43
Speaker 6: her you know, her son, and also other family members.
26:46
Speaker 6: And actually, you know what I found is, you know,
26:48
Speaker 6: what they said recently is interesting And it's not that
26:50
Speaker 6: they don't believe that you know, Wendy, you know that
26:53
Speaker 6: she needs no care, like they're open to you know,
26:55
Speaker 6: her her possibly you know, you know, seeking no care,
26:57
Speaker 6: but they wanted it to be in Florida. They want
26:59
Speaker 6: her to be around the family. They don't want her
27:01
Speaker 6: to be isolated in New York. And you know, they're
27:03
Speaker 6: open to having her, you know, take evaluations and even
27:05
Speaker 6: you know, undergo if she needs you know, some some
27:07
Speaker 6: basically you know help on the side. You know, they
27:09
Speaker 6: want to be the ones to do it. And I
27:11
Speaker 6: think that's you know, I think that's a fair request.
27:13
Speaker 6: You know that that she's being given.
27:15
Speaker 1: Okay, I don't know what you're saying.
27:16
Speaker 2: You're telling me the family wants to oversee her rehab.
27:22
Speaker 6: The family wants her to move. The family wants her
27:23
Speaker 6: to be in Florida. That's basically the whole The whole
27:25
Speaker 6: thing right now is that you know, if she needs
27:27
Speaker 6: if she needs, you know, care, she needs some help
27:29
Speaker 6: on the side or whatever. You know that they're willing to,
27:31
Speaker 6: you know, to do it, but you know they can't
27:33
Speaker 6: do it if you know they're all in Florida and
27:35
Speaker 6: she's in New York. You know, they want her to
27:37
Speaker 6: be there so that they can, you know, have have
27:40
Speaker 6: her close. And she that's what she wants too, That's
27:42
Speaker 6: all she wants, James.
27:44
Speaker 2: Regarding where she is now, you have spoken to her
27:47
Speaker 2: very recently. She has no personal belongings or electronics. She
27:51
Speaker 2: has a phone, but can only make calls, not receive.
27:55
Speaker 2: She cannot leave her room without a staff member unlocking
27:58
Speaker 2: the door.
28:00
Speaker 1: Is this true?
28:01
Speaker 6: I mean when I spoke to here in October, I
28:03
Speaker 6: called her and she picked up the phone. I don't
28:05
Speaker 6: know if it was a cell phone orr housephone, but
28:06
Speaker 6: she did pick up the phone, you know, and she
28:08
Speaker 6: you know, showed me she was making breakfast. So I'm
28:11
Speaker 6: not sure exactly you know, all those specifics, but I
28:12
Speaker 6: do know that, you know, I'm sure she's restricted on
28:15
Speaker 6: many things as she says, you know, but as far
28:17
Speaker 6: as you know, electronics going and she she picked up
28:20
Speaker 6: in Hello.
28:21
Speaker 2: Interesting Tom Ruskin joining us now private investigator and president
28:26
Speaker 2: of CMP Protective and Investigative Group. For my purposes, Former
28:31
Speaker 2: New York City Police detective investigator Tom thank you for
28:36
Speaker 2: being with us. Now, who are we supposed to trust
28:41
Speaker 2: the facility holding her under those draconian, very harsh conditions
28:46
Speaker 2: if they are to be believed, or.
28:48
Speaker 1: Her family and seemingly wells.
28:52
Speaker 2: Fargo was concerned that the family was bleeding her dry,
28:57
Speaker 2: that they were actually hurting her. Many people claim the
29:01
Speaker 2: same thing about Britney Spears's father.
29:05
Speaker 13: Listen, Britney spears father Jamie is back in the headlines,
29:08
Speaker 13: this time suggusting the pop superstar has dementia. Fans have
29:13
Speaker 13: disputed the explosive claim, seeing it couldn't be possible that
29:16
Speaker 13: Spears had dementia while releasing four albums as well as
29:20
Speaker 13: putting on high energy global tours in over two hundred
29:23
Speaker 13: and fifty Las Vegas shows.
29:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't get that either. How could she do
29:27
Speaker 2: all that, Tom Ruskin, but have dementia? No? I mean,
29:31
Speaker 2: I'm not a shrink, but it just doesn't make sense
29:35
Speaker 2: to me. And in this case, if Wendy can talk
29:38
Speaker 2: to James Vetusk, James Vituska on the phone, can give
29:42
Speaker 2: interviews outlining the conditions of her guardianship. How could she
29:47
Speaker 2: do that and have such horrible dementia she can't live
29:50
Speaker 2: alone that she has to be in a facility. How
29:53
Speaker 2: do you ferret that out?
29:55
Speaker 1: Tom? How do you find the truth? As an investigator?
29:58
Speaker 10: You systematically go out. You can conduct surveillances, you do interviews,
30:04
Speaker 10: and you try and determine what the facts are. We're
30:07
Speaker 10: a finder of the facts and then we turn it
30:10
Speaker 10: over either to the court or to an attorney like Elizabeth,
30:14
Speaker 10: or a law firm that we're working for, or the
30:16
Speaker 10: family and basically reveal what we find. This is a
30:21
Speaker 10: very complicated case because you don't know to believe the bank,
30:25
Speaker 10: you don't know to believe the family. And from what
30:28
Speaker 10: you're learning from the reporter, she sounded normal and the
30:34
Speaker 10: capable of handling her own affairs.
30:44
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace Guys.
30:49
Speaker 2: At a certain point, Britney Spears demanded to be heard
30:55
Speaker 2: by the court.
30:57
Speaker 13: Listen, Britney Spears wants to address the judge and her
30:59
Speaker 13: can servetorship case during today's hearings. Spears court appointed attorney,
31:04
Speaker 13: so that the pop star wants to address the judge
31:06
Speaker 13: in court He did not say what the thirty nine
31:08
Speaker 13: year old singer wants to say, and the judge did
31:11
Speaker 13: not say if she would grant the request to Elizabeth
31:14
Speaker 13: Jay McInturff, joining US high profile lawyer specializing in guardianship issues, Elizabeth,
31:23
Speaker 13: why can't Wendy Williams have a hearing like the one
31:27
Speaker 13: Britney Spears demanded and got?
31:29
Speaker 12: That is actually what her attorneys are moving to do
31:33
Speaker 12: right now, is they are moving to have a termination hearing,
31:36
Speaker 12: to have the court review current records and what has
31:41
Speaker 12: gone on in the guardianship, including her own health, and
31:44
Speaker 12: whether or not she still needs to be under a guardianship.
31:47
Speaker 2: Elizabeth McInturff, He just went into deafcon for warp speed ten.
31:53
Speaker 1: Could you rephrase that in regular people talk?
31:56
Speaker 13: Sure?
31:56
Speaker 12: So, Mis Williams clearly does not want to be under
31:59
Speaker 12: a guardianship anymore and does not feel that she needs
32:01
Speaker 12: to be under one medically or otherwise. She has asked
32:05
Speaker 12: her attorneys to file a petition with the court to
32:10
Speaker 12: terminate her guardianship, and that's what they're doing. So Miss
32:13
Speaker 12: Williams and her attorneys are going to go before the
32:16
Speaker 12: court and put on their evidence and say these are
32:18
Speaker 12: the reasons why this guardianship is no longer or not needed,
32:23
Speaker 12: and you should release me from it, or maybe even
32:26
Speaker 12: modify it so that there's some least restrictive means that
32:30
Speaker 12: can be employed here. And by least restrictive means, we
32:33
Speaker 12: mean so maybe she has access to some accounts or
32:36
Speaker 12: the phone if she is really being kept from it.
32:38
Speaker 2: Guys, take a listen to our friend Harvey Levin at TMZ.
32:43
Speaker 16: Feels like you're screaming for help. Are you allowed to
32:46
Speaker 16: go out now?
32:48
Speaker 4: In the last thirty days, I went out twice.
32:52
Speaker 16: This sounds more like a prison than independence.
32:55
Speaker 4: I want my right back, I want my freedom back.
33:00
Speaker 16: DMZ presents Saving Wendy now streaming on two B.
33:05
Speaker 1: That's from our friend Harvey Levin, Saving Wendy.
33:08
Speaker 3: Are they keeping her safe or keeping her quiet? TV
33:12
Speaker 3: host Wendy Williams flights back against Glaim. She's incapacitated in
33:15
Speaker 3: a conservatorship struggle. As your guardian agrees to a new
33:18
Speaker 3: medical evaluation.
33:20
Speaker 2: What conservator would try to disallow Wendy from seeing her
33:24
Speaker 2: father on his ninety fourth birthday.
33:27
Speaker 16: Listen, Wendy, your dad is turning ninety four in February
33:32
Speaker 16: and he's up there in age, and I know you
33:37
Speaker 16: will want to go to Miami to see him and
33:39
Speaker 16: celebrate his birthday because you don't know how many more
33:42
Speaker 16: they are going.
33:42
Speaker 12: To be right exactly.
33:46
Speaker 16: That must be important for you.
33:51
Speaker 17: It's extremely important.
33:55
Speaker 4: It's extremely important.
33:57
Speaker 17: To see my dad for his birthday, you know. And
34:00
Speaker 17: that is a family thing.
34:01
Speaker 4: It's not just a me thing, you know.
34:03
Speaker 17: I would wish that along with celebrating my dad's ninety
34:08
Speaker 17: fourth birthday, that we as a family, we come together
34:13
Speaker 17: in peace and harmony. That's what I wish.
34:18
Speaker 12: Like that.
34:19
Speaker 1: That is breaking my heart. She clearly is lucid.
34:24
Speaker 2: That again is for our friend Harvey Levin at teams
34:26
Speaker 2: A saving Wendy on to be okay, Doctor John Delatory,
34:34
Speaker 2: Should I believe that conservator or my lion eyes because
34:38
Speaker 2: she was extremely lucid?
34:40
Speaker 8: Yeah, no, she seemed extremely lucid. That's why it's important
34:44
Speaker 8: to have one of these independent evaluators take a look
34:47
Speaker 8: at all of these other underlying issues. There's a whole
34:50
Speaker 8: lot of nuance that goes into conducting these guardianship evaluations
34:54
Speaker 8: that sometimes someone can be appropriate, but other times they're
34:59
Speaker 8: not a p which means that maybe they don't need
35:01
Speaker 8: a full.
35:02
Speaker 2: Wait right way, wait wait, doctor delatory. I don't like
35:06
Speaker 2: it when people start talking about women behaving inappropriately. Okay,
35:11
Speaker 2: I don't think that's the right word. She may be
35:14
Speaker 2: as inappropriate as she wants to, but the issue is
35:19
Speaker 2: is she mentally ill? Can she not control her business,
35:24
Speaker 2: her finances? And according to Tom Ruskin, who's a pro
35:29
Speaker 2: with this, are people around her facilitating her illness.
35:35
Speaker 1: In order to get to her money? That's the question?
35:38
Speaker 1: Can she find that off? And the irony.
35:43
Speaker 2: Wendy Williams led the charge to quote, free Brittany.
35:48
Speaker 1: Listen, I'm part of the army. Now, free Brittany. Leave
35:52
Speaker 1: Brittany alone.
35:53
Speaker 18: Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm there. I'm there, I'm there. How
35:58
Speaker 18: dare you? I don't like the mother. I don't like
36:01
Speaker 18: the father. Jamie Lynn, where were you to help your
36:04
Speaker 18: sister out? I don't like you.
36:05
Speaker 8: I don't like any of them, none of them.
36:08
Speaker 18: Fire everybody and escape now Brittany.
36:11
Speaker 1: She ain't afraid to tell it.
36:13
Speaker 2: That's from the official Wendy Williams show. The irony that
36:18
Speaker 2: she was trying to help free Britney, which she did,
36:21
Speaker 2: and now no one is freeing Wendy and she goes on, listen.
36:26
Speaker 1: How dare you, mister Spears. You had me fooled?
36:29
Speaker 7: And you too, missus Spears, death to all of them.
36:33
Speaker 1: That from the Official Wendy Williams Show. And she was not.
36:37
Speaker 2: Afraid to call out family members and more that she
36:42
Speaker 2: believed we're keeping Britney Spears in a horrible conservatorship. Whether
36:48
Speaker 2: you like what Britney's doing now or not, that is her.
36:51
Speaker 2: She is a decision to make. And she called out
36:54
Speaker 2: other people too.
36:55
Speaker 1: Listen to me, I will Lucy, stop it. Denial is
37:00
Speaker 1: a river in Egypt.
37:02
Speaker 2: Your husband is day Okay, she said that.
37:07
Speaker 1: That's from the Wendy Williams experience.
37:09
Speaker 2: Now listen to her calling it out on the Wendy
37:11
Speaker 2: Williams Show.
37:13
Speaker 18: Ricardo Tucci, you know Kanye's special friend.
37:16
Speaker 1: She's a very good friend of Kanye's. I didn't say
37:20
Speaker 1: a word.
37:21
Speaker 18: Because Kanye was probably in the corner talking about yes, yes.
37:26
Speaker 1: Yes, Kanze oh girl.
37:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's from the Official Wendy Williams Show.
37:35
Speaker 1: She would be having a sill day right now with
37:38
Speaker 1: Kanye and Beyoncusten. Sorry, don't you know it?
37:41
Speaker 18: And more because fortunately one of the TV's in Our
37:44
Speaker 18: Kitchen has close captioning, so I'll be able to understand
37:46
Speaker 18: what she says.
37:47
Speaker 1: She you know, Beyonce can't talk you all.
37:51
Speaker 4: Beyonce sounds like she's got a fifth grade education.
37:53
Speaker 12: She can't talk.
37:54
Speaker 2: Wendy Williams added, again, that's from the official Wendy Williams show.
37:58
Speaker 2: Those are just examples of her being fearless and saying
38:01
Speaker 2: whatever she thought and calling people on the rug, calling
38:06
Speaker 2: them out when she sent something was off. But you
38:09
Speaker 2: know what, nobody seems to be doing that for Wendy.
38:13
Speaker 18: As far as you stand with drug use use going
38:19
Speaker 18: on at this present time.
38:22
Speaker 5: Whitney talking to me, I'm talking to me about that
38:25
Speaker 5: I was.
38:25
Speaker 1: A full blown cocaine out of my mind move on. Well,
38:30
Speaker 1: seems like Wendy had it right. Uh.
38:32
Speaker 2: She was speaking with Whitney Houston and confronting her about
38:36
Speaker 2: her cocaine alleged cocaine issue and fully admits.
38:41
Speaker 1: Her own battle with drugs.
38:43
Speaker 2: Even admitting on many times, including on NPR, that battle
38:46
Speaker 2: was with crack cocaine, which she defeated. That was Wendy
38:50
Speaker 2: Williams speaking to Whitney Houston on wb LSFM.
38:55
Speaker 1: This woman at the top of the pinnacle listen.
39:00
Speaker 11: After a successful trial run of The Wendy Williams Show,
39:04
Speaker 11: the talk show is broadcast internationally and Garner's two point
39:07
Speaker 11: four million daily viewers. Williams trades off with Ellen DeGeneres
39:12
Speaker 11: as the number one female daytime television host for years.
39:16
Speaker 11: The daily show runs for twelve years straight, while Williams
39:19
Speaker 11: starts her own reality TV production company with her manager
39:23
Speaker 11: and husband Kevin Hunter.
39:25
Speaker 2: To Tom Ruskin joining us now and private investigator President
39:29
Speaker 2: of CMP Protective and Investigative Group, former NYPD detective Tom,
39:35
Speaker 2: how do we get to the bottom of this going
39:39
Speaker 2: in front of the same judge that put her in
39:41
Speaker 2: the concertoship to start with? We're in need more than
39:45
Speaker 2: that to free Wendy. If that is in fact what
39:49
Speaker 2: is appropriate, and I believe that it is. How do
39:52
Speaker 2: you prove either she is Melli coop competent or that
39:57
Speaker 2: she was being victimized by people for her money.
40:00
Speaker 10: We'd have to conduct a very detailed, complex investigation. But
40:05
Speaker 10: when you're showing the Harvey Levin tape of him interviewing
40:09
Speaker 10: her with a camera on the window, she seemed very
40:11
Speaker 10: coherent there. And let me tell you, as a police officer.
40:15
Speaker 10: As a former police officer, I saw very high stress
40:18
Speaker 10: situations like what you described happen to Britney Spear's house,
40:23
Speaker 10: helicopters overhead, cops at the ready. The person who's either
40:30
Speaker 10: acting out that day is high stressed. You have to
40:33
Speaker 10: bring it down. As a police officer, you bring those
40:36
Speaker 10: situations down. So for Wendy Williams to be acting out
40:41
Speaker 10: at certain times is not someone who's disturbed. We call
40:45
Speaker 10: a NEDP emotionally disturbed person. It's just someone who's acting
40:50
Speaker 10: out rationally and irrational.
40:52
Speaker 2: Time to Sydney Sumner joining us from commonline dot com.
40:57
Speaker 2: How long has Wendy been in a con servitorship, Nancy.
41:01
Speaker 9: We're coming up on three years. She was put under
41:04
Speaker 9: this guardianship in March of twenty twenty two. Morrissey was
41:08
Speaker 9: confirmed as her guardian in May of twenty twenty two.
41:13
Speaker 9: So we're coming up on three years where Wendy has
41:16
Speaker 9: not been allowed to have any agency over her own life.
41:20
Speaker 2: Seeing you know, just like Tom Ruskin, private investigator said
41:25
Speaker 2: that video of Harvey speaking to her and she could
41:29
Speaker 2: only speak to him through a glass window.
41:33
Speaker 1: She looked desperate, but lucid free Wendy Williams. We remember
41:42
Speaker 1: now an American hero police officer, Jeremy Lebunti rosal P D, Georgia,
41:48
Speaker 1: just twenty four, shot and killed in the line of duty,
41:52
Speaker 1: survived by grieving wife now widow alyssa American hero police
42:00
Speaker 1: officer Jeremy La Bunty. Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.