Wendy Williams' family expressed their concern for the ailing former TV host in a new Lifetime documentary, which aired Feb. 25 and 26.
Several members of her family were in the documentary, including her son, Kevin Hunter Jr.; brother Thomas "Tommy" Williams Jr.; sister Wanda Finnie; niece Alex Finnie and nephew Travis Finnie.
Wendy Williams' siblings have lived a more private life than their sister, who has been in the public eye, first as a radio DJ then as a daytime talk show host starting in 2008.
The siblings’ mother, Shirley Williams, died in 2020. Their father, Thomas Williams, is in his 90s, and was in documentary. In the third episode, Thomas and Wendy Williams sit side-by-side and looked through memorabilia from her accomplishments.
“This is something I wish we could have more of: Being around family,” Thomas Williams tells the cameras in a confessional interview.
Here's what Wendy Williams' siblings shared in the documentary.
Wanda FinnieWanda Finnie is Wendy Williams' only sister. She appears alongside her daughter, Alex Finnie, in the new Lifetime documentary. Initially reluctant to be part of production, Wanda Finnie joined for the final episode.
“It has been a long journey in terms of the experience for our family and for Wendy,” Wanda Finnie says in the documentary. “I hope to come out of this letting people see the love that we have as a family together for each other as well as the love we have for Wendy, and to understand the journey we’ve been through that has not always been perfect. Everyone wanted the same thing, which is to see Wendy healthy and happy.”
Ahead of the documentary's release, Wanda Finney told People she and her family members were repeatedly concerned for her health.
“There were points during the past year when everyone in this family wondered whether that call (that she was dead) was going to come in the middle of the night,” Wanda Finnie told People. “Everybody in this family sat on pins and needles every single night with their cell phones right next to the bed.”
Wanda told People that she and Wendy Williams' other family members were kept out of the process when she was assigned a guardian in 2022.
“All I know is that Wendy and her team walked into the courtroom one way, and they walked out, and the family is completely excluded,” she told the magazine.
The documentary was filmed between 2022 and 2023. Filming stopped when Wendy Williams entered a health facility. Days ahead of the documentary release, Wendy Williams’ medical team revealed she has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Her diagnosis is not part of the documentary.
Wanda Finnie said she has seen her condition improve.
“I don’t know what is working, but I do know that when she did reach out to me, it was a person who is remarkably different than what we see in that documentary,” she told People.
Wanda Finnie said Wendy Williams' family currently "cannot reach out to her" but noted that the star "can reach out to us" and does so "very regularly." Since entering the facility, Wendy Williams is now "in a healing place emotionally," according to her sister.
"She’s not the person that you see in this film,” she said.
Thomas (Tommy) Williams Jr.
Thomas (Tommy) Williams Jr. is Wendy Williams' younger brother and is named after the siblings' father, Thomas Williams Sr. Like their parents, Thomas Williams is a teacher; he once surprised Wendy Williams on her show for National Teacher's Day.
In the documentary, Wendy Williams appears to mix up Thomas Williams with her son, Kevin Hunter.
"Kevin, I'm so glad you're here. Really, really," she says.
He responds, "I know you are. I couldn't wait to see you."
He told Entertainment Tonight, following the documentary's release, why he went along with her misconception.
"I didn't want to ruin the moment," he said.
Thomas Williams also said, in the interview, that he and his sister speak once a week. "When I hear Wendy's voice, she sounds upbeat and happy," he said.