Wendy Williams’ Publicist Claims Star Would Be “Mortified” With Final Outcome Of Documentary: She “Was Being Exploited”

Wendy Williams‘ publicist, Shawn Zanotti, has spoken out against the new Lifetime documentary Where Is Wendy Williams? which she claimed “exploited” the beloved television personality amid her struggles with dementia and alcoholism.

Zanotti — who was featured in the documentary — told NBC News that Williams would not be pleased with the outcome of the project, which was originally supposed to follow her career comeback as she entered the podcast world, but quickly changed course when it became apparent that she was struggling cognitively.

“I felt that [Williams] was being exploited. She thought we were focusing on the comeback of her career,” said Zanotti, who began working with Williams in 2021. “She would be mortified. There’s no way you can convince me that she would be OK with looking and seeing herself in that way.”

According to Zanotti, Williams “immediately” agreed to film a documentary to help “get [her] story out there.” However, the publicist said the final product was “not” what Williams initially signed up for.

“That’s not the project [the producers] brought to me. That’s not what I told her this was going to be about,” Zanotti said. “There were a lot of good moments. None of those good moments were shown.”

Days before the documentary came out, Williams’ team announced that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia — the same condition actor Bruce Willis suffers from. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Where Is Wendy Williams? producer Mark Ford claimed “no one would’ve rolled a camera” had they known about her diagnosis.

In the THR piece, Ford was asked if Zanotti is still “part of the team” working with Williams. He told the outlet, “No, it’s our understanding that she is no longer part of the team and hasn’t been for quite some time.”

Zanotti, whom THR reached out to for comment on Ford’s claims, told NBC that she didn’t believe that Williams’ diagnosis “would have stopped” the documentarians from filming their project.

“The producers were asking questions throughout the entire time — would ask questions where she would somewhat seem confused, and I feel as though it was done to be intentional at that moment in time to make their storyline,” she said.

She added, “Again, this was presented as a documentary to her, but to me, it looked as though it was a reality show of a circus, a circus to her downfall.”

Williams’ court-appointed guardian placed her in a care facility in 2023 and has reportedly cut her off from her family. Ford told THR producers have had “no way” to get the final documentary to Williams, adding that they “haven’t been able to speak to her” since they wrapped filming in April 2023.

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