Wendy Williams Reveals Heartbreaking Diagnosis

Primary progressive aphasia is a neurological condition that impairs a person’s ability to communicate. The symptoms appear mild at first, then gradually build until the afflicted person is no longer able to read, write, or speak. Wendy Williams, her team assures, isn’t quite at that point with her condition yet, though the star does reside in a facility that specializes in the treatment of cognitive issues.

Wendy Williams’ diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia adds another complicated layer to the popular TV host’s already laundry list of medical issues. This condition causes the frontal lobes in the brain to shrink and can severely impact a person’s actions and behaviors. Impulsivity, inappropriate remarks, and emotional indifference are often symptoms of this condition that is sometimes mistakenly diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease.

Wendy Williams, whose health issues began to come to light in 2017 when she fainted on the set of The Wendy Williams Show, was diagnosed with Grave’s Disease the following year. Grave’s Disease is an autoimmune disorder that impacts the thyroid and serves as the leading cause of hyperthyroidism in adults. Poor health, a myriad of financial issues that followed, and some poorly thought-out public comments criticizing the “Me, Too” movement has certainly caused Williams’ trajectory to change.

Despite her current financial issues and the devastating news surrounding her health, there is no doubt that Wendy Williams has certainly made her mark in the entertainment industry. The 59-year-old entertainer began her career in the business in the mid-1980s as a disc jockey on a radio station in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Within a year, Williams was stateside and worked her way through station after station, slowly growing a following that culminated in her own syndicated radio show in 2001.

On air, Wendy Williams didn’t pull any punches with her radio show guests. In what is regarded as her most infamous interview, she and guest Whitney Houston got into a heated argument when Williams began to grill the R&B star about her marriage issues and whether or not she had breast implants. In the late 1990s, hip-hop mogul Sean Combs is believed to have influenced one station giving Williams the ax, following comments she made hinting that Combs was gay.

Love her or hate her, you cannot argue with the mega-reach that Wendy Williams had in her prime. Comedian Billy Eichner once noted that Williams was “the only journalist I trust,” and used an episode of his show Billy on the Street to show skeptics just how influential she was.

What is next for Wendy Williams remains uncertain, though with the recent diagnoses a return to television is probably unlikely. Family members have also noted that as Williams is under a guardianship that restricts many visits, that her loved ones have not been able to speak to or visit her in the facility that she currently resides in. This revelation is eerily timed with the release of the upcoming documentary Where is Wendy Williams that will air on the Lifetime Network on February 24.