The conditions have “presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life,” her team revealed.
Wendy Williams’ health has been a topic of conversation and speculation for the past few years. Questions about the cause of her cognitive and physical decline have been spiraling, but answers are starting to surface. The former talk show host has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, her team said in a news release this week.
The 59-year-old learned she had the rare neurological conditions late last year, after undergoing a “battery of medical tests,” her team said. The host has been open about her Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder, and lymphedema, a condition characterized by the build-up of fluid causing swelling. Her dementia had also “presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life,” even before the diagnosis, according to the news release.
Williams, who began hosting her show in 2008, took an indefinite leave of absence to manage her health in 2021. Shortly after, it was announced that Sherri Shepherd would host a successor to the Wendy Williams Show — called Sherri — beginning in 2022.
Over the past few years, fans have been concerned about Williams’ well-being. Since 2022, Williams has lived under a legal guardianship, which oversees her health and finances, and for the past 10 months has resided in a facility to address “cognitive issues,” PEOPLE reports. But until now, nothing has been publicly released about the severity of her condition and why specifically she would need this level of supervision.
Even her family seemed to be in the dark; Williams’ sister, Wanda Finnie, spoke to PEOPLE about her confusion: “How did she go from this aunt or sister that we love and is healthy one minute to this person who’s in and out of the hospital?”
Williams’ team said they decided to announce her diagnosis to “correct inaccurate and hurtful rumors about her health.” They also said that she’s still able to “do many things for herself” and “most importantly maintains her trademark sense of humor.”
What is frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia?
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of disorders that occur when the nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain start to die off, causing these structures to shrink, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. FTD can impact a person’s behavior, personality, and coordination. It can lead to impaired judgment, dramatic personality changes like “swearing, stealing, an increased interest in sex,” a loss of energy, and apathy, per John Hopkins.
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a form of FTD that affects the ability to communicate, according to the Mayo Clinic. Patients with this type of dementia may have trouble speaking, reading, or writing. As the name suggests, the symptoms progress over time, and some patients even lose the ability to speak or understand written or spoken language at all.
FTD and PPA are both rare and generally crop up in younger patients, with symptoms beginning between the ages of 40 and 65, per Johns Hopkins. Last year, it was announced that Bruce Willis was diagnosed with FTD.
“FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone,” Willis’ family, who’s trying to raise awareness of the disorder, said in a statement last year.
Williams’ team has the same aim and hopes that by coming forward they can fight the stigma of the disease, they said: “There is hope that with early detection and fare more empathy, the stigma associated with dementia will be eliminated, and those affected will receive the understanding, support, and care they deserve and need.”
