In a newly revised complaint in Wendy Williams‘ lawsuit against Lifetime parent company A+E Networks over the release of a documentary chronicling her deteriorating mental and physical state, her attorneys are requesting that all profits from the project fund her medical care.
As RadarOnline reports, Lifetime cameras followed Williams for seven months, recording her downward spiral for the two-part doc Where Is Wendy Williams? The film exposed the most vulnerable time of Williams’ life, yet according to court docs, the TV-host only received $82,000 for her participation in the project.
The revised complaint, filed Sept 16 states, “This is a paltry sum for the use of highly invasive, humiliating footage that portrayed her in the confusing throes of dementia, while Defendants, who have profited on the streaming of the Program have likely already earned millions.”
Williams’ attorney’s previously tried to block the project from airing.
The complaint continued, “No person who witnessed (Williams) in these circumstances could possibly have believed that she was capable of consenting to an agreement to film.”
They also claimed Williams was portrayed as a “laughingstock and drunkard, implicitly responsible for her own continued suffering”.
Roberta Kaplan, one of Wendy’s legal reps, said the defendants “viciously and shamelessly exploited Wendy Williams for their own profit while she was obviously incapacitated and suffering from dementia.”
The controversial four-and-a-half-hour documentary, which contains footage from roughly seven months of Williams’ tumultuous past few years until she entered a health facility to treat cognitive issues last year, aired in February to blockbuster ratings, averaging slightly over a million viewers across the two nights it was broadcasted.
Lifetime said it was the biggest nonfiction debut in two years. Williams, her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., and Selby, her jeweler turned manager, are all credited as executive producers.