Wendy Williams Speaks Out From Assisted Living: “This Is a F****d-Up Situation”

Wendy Williams is offering a rare glimpse into her life inside Coterie, the luxury assisted-living facility in Hudson Yards, New York, where she reportedly resides on one floor. Speaking by phone from her memory care unit, Williams described the situation as “f****d-up” and expressed frustration about her living conditions, saying she can’t tell how many times she has asked to be moved from that floor because she doesn’t want to be surrounded by elderly residents.

Her surroundings are tightly controlled: the floor is locked, she needs permission from both Coterie and her court-appointed guardian to leave, and phones aren’t allowed. Williams does have a landline that only makes outgoing calls. Her longtime friend Max Tucci, owner of the upscale Italian restaurant Tucci in NYC, noted that Williams has been blunt about the facility, telling him it is “like where billionaires send their grandmothers” but adding that she doesn’t need it because “Wendy doesn’t lie.”

Williams, who was placed under guardianship in 2022 and later diagnosed with progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (which she continues to deny), initially stayed on a higher floor of Coterie with marble bathrooms and floor-to-ceiling windows. According to friends, she was moved to the memory care unit after a birthday outing at the facility’s penthouse bar, where she reportedly got “hammered.”

Despite the restrictions, Williams insists she still gets out, telling The Cut that she’s been attending a “megachurch” in Brooklyn, which she says “gives me faith and keeps me very well in touch with God and myself.” She also uses an iPad in her 360-square-foot suite to listen to her old radio show and stay updated on news about herself. The unit costs $25,800 per month, on top of legal and guardian fees.

Drama surrounding Williams extends beyond the facility. Her ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, filed a lawsuit claiming her guardianship is “fraudulent bondage” and calling the judge “crooked.” That suit, which sought $250 million in damages, was thrown out by a judge on October 9, though Hunter may refile. Williams’ son, Kevin Jr., said he’s trying to avoid the drama: he wants to “build, carve out my own path right now, away from everything” and just wants his mother “to get out of this. Because it’s not right.”

A new medical report could influence whether the guardianship remains, eases, or ends, though sources told The Cut that a full removal is unlikely.