Wendy Williams' Brother on Their Recent Phone Call Amid Her Treatment Facility Stay (Exclusive)
Wendy Williams' brother, Tommy, is opening up about when he last spoke with her and how she sounded amid her current stay at a treatment facility.
Speaking to ET's Nischelle Turner, Tommy says he last spoke with the former daytime talk show host about a week and a half ago and she sounded great. Tommy also tells ET that she asked how the family's doing as she continues to battle a number of health and personal challenges.
"Well, I could have spoken with her this morning, but I didn't get the call. My sister, Wanda, called me this morning and she said that Wendy had called. I was already on my way out, but I didn't speak with her," said Tommy when asked when was the last time he actually spoke with Wendy. "So, for me it might have been about a week and a half."
On average, Tommy says he speaks with his sister about once a week, though he admits he hasn't spoken to her since the release of Lifetime's documentary, Where Is Wendy Williams?. The four-and-a-half-hour documentary chronicles the events that led to Williams being placed under the control of a court-ordered guardian in 2022.
In any event, Tommy says Wendy sounded great when he last spoke with her.
"I hear, 'Hey, Tommy. How you doing?' You know what I'm saying?" he says.
Tommy says the conversations are so fluid, he doesn't see the need to have to analyze what she says or corroborate with other family members to see if they, too, had a great conversation with her.
"Our experience with Wendy now having conversations, it's very uniform," he says. "When we say it was a great conversation, it's very uniform, when we say she sounds good, she sounds like she's coming back. Oh my gosh, she sounds outstanding, you know?"
And that she's doing well, Tommy thinks, has a lot to do with the people she's on the phone with -- her family.
"She’s doing well, first of all, because she's plugged into family," he says. "So, when I do hear Wendy's voice, she does sound upbeat and happy. She does sound clear because she's talking to the people she wants to be with."
The family has been at odds with the fact that Wendy's currently under the control of a court-ordered guardian. In a preview of a Nightline sit-down interview with Deborah Roberts shown on Thursday's Good Morning America, Wanda called the system "broken" in terms of the court-appointed guardian.
"We are her family," Wanda declares, tears welling up, "and you tell me that I'm not capable of taking care of my sister. What would you do? What should I do?"
As Wendy's manager, Will Shelby, previously told ET and reaffirms in the documentary, Wendy checked into a treatment facility in April 2023 to confront her battle with alcohol addiction, a move prompted by concerns from her son about the potentially fatal consequences of her addiction.
Roberts reports that Wendy's family claims that they don't know where the aforementioned facility is but they have heard from her and that she sounds "much better."
Ahead of the Lifetime documentary release, Wendy's care team revealed she had been diagnosed in 2023 with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Shortly after, Wendy released a statement to ET saying she was "overwhelmed" by the support.
"I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)," she said.
"Let me say, wow! Your response has been overwhelming. The messages shared with me have touched me, reminding me of the power of unity and the need for compassion," the statement continued. "I hope that others with FTD may benefit from my story."
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