In February 2024, Wendy Williams' team shared that the media personality had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Up until August 2024, Wendy, 60, had not been seen and photographed in public since March 2023, according to People. On Monday, August 19, Wendy went shopping with her son, Kevin Hunter Jr. They stopped at Bolingo Balance in Newark, New Jersey, where they were photographed. The owner of the store, Victor Bowman, posted about Wendy's shopping experience on Facebook, and his store also shared a photo of Wendy on its Instagram page.
"Wendy Williams come to my store much love Queen ," Victor wrote on Facebook, sharing a photo of Wendy shopping at his store.
On Instagram, the store captioned the photo with, "Much love to Wendy Williams and her son ❤️ @topfloor_kev I remember when I met Kevin in Usha village, my dad told me I want you to meet Wendy’s son. At that time, we were the only ones of the same age in Usha."
While out shopping with her son, Wendy was reportedly "sharp, upbeat and aware," an employee at Bolingo Balance told Page Six. While she didn't talk as much as her son did, the employee said that it was because she wasn't as familiar with the holistic products sold at the store.
The employee told the outlet that Wendy was "engaging but wasn’t as familiar with what we do here, so her son was more explaining things."
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The employee described Wendy as "very bubbly" and said Wendy has plans to return to the shop. "She talked about circulation improvement but didn’t want to get into too much detail on their first meeting and plans to come back in the near future," the employee told Page Six.
Rumors about Wendy's health and well-being have been floating around for years. She last appeared on her show The Wendy Williams Show in 2021, and the show was canceled in 2022. She has historically been open about her health challenges, like Graves' disease and lymphedema.
On February 22, 2024, her team shared a press release, stating that "in 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD)."
At the time, her team noted that Wendy was "still able to do many things for herself."
"Most importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed," the press release read.
Wendy's court-ordered guardianship, which began in 2022, has also raised concerns about Wendy. Her bank, Wells Fargo, reportedly claimed that she was an "incapacitated person," per The Hollywood Reporter.
In February 2024, Wendy Williams's niece, Alex Finnie, said that Wendy's family has "limited contact" with her. On The View, Alex said that she was able to speak to Wendy, but "it has been a big problem for the family in terms of just, can we get an update on how she’s doing?"
Wendy has been living in an assisted care facility, according to Deadline.
Other family members told People that Wendy can contact them, but they are not able to contact her. "The people who love her cannot see her," Alex's mom (and Wendy's sister), told the outlet in February.
According to Mayo Clinic, primary progressive aphasia is a rare condition, but those who have it face communication challenges that get progressively worse. The condition can make it harder, or eventually impossible, for people to understand spoken language, express their thoughts, and write. However, it progresses slowly.
Frontotemporal dementia can cause a variety of symptoms that vary from person to person. Some people with frontotemporal dementia experience behavioral and personality changes, including loss of interpersonal skills and inappropriate social behavior, per Mayo Clinic. The condition can also cause speech and language symptoms, like being unable to recall words, forgetting the meanings of words, and making mistakes when forming sentences.
Bruce Willis has also been diagnosed with the condition.
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