Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Yet I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about
everything and everybody, you know, if.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You don't lie about that, right, La cant Hey, y'all,
what's up.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
It's Laura l Roza and this is the Latest with
Laura le Rosa. This is your daily dig on all
things pop culture, entertainment, news and the conversations that shake
the room.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Now today, getting right on into the latest because it
is Friday, July eighteenth, twenty twenty five, and we are
celebrating the legend, the icon, miss Wendy Williams. And today
we are celebrating her because today is Wendy Williams birthday.
Y'all know, we have been having a lot of conversation
about Wendy Williams here on the podcast over at the
(00:44):
Breakfast Club as well too, because one of the first
interviews that Wendy Williams did about the current conservatorship that
she is in where she gave really in depth detail
about what she was going through, was with us on
the Breakfast Club.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Here's a little flashback in case you don't.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I don't want to make it sad because it is
our birthday, but I do want to, you know, take
some time to break down. You know what's going on
right now, where we're going, and you know all the things.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So let's take a listen real quick.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I'm saying. No,
but I feel like I am in prison. You understand
what I'm saying. I'm in this place where the people
are in their nineties and their eighties and their seventies,
and even when people are sixty like me. Hey, I
am sexy and gorgeous sixty. Look please July eighteenth, nineteen
(01:30):
sixty four, honey, for look like I'm exhausted thinking about
what if I can't see my dad for his birthday?
You know, at ninety four, you know the day after
that is not promised. It's not promise. I want to
give my dad some sort of fragrance, you know. I
want to go to Sophora and pick and choose what
bring right now here.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, this interview started such a shoot, man. It was
when you work on a platform like The Breakfast Club,
you know, nationally syndicated radio show who has been doing
what they've been doing for what fourteen fifteen years at
this point, You know, when you have certain conversations they
will be everywhere like that is inevitable.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
But the way that Wendy Williams.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
And you know, her story at that time, was received,
I wasn't taken aback by it, but it was definitely
something to watch. And the reason why I wasn't taking
a back by it is because Wendy Williams, you know,
famously in her career, spent a lot of time talking
about everybody else and everything they had going on and
everything they were dealing with, and you know, all the
ins and outs and all the all the secrets up
(02:33):
in the corners and the bodies and knowing where they
were buried and all the things. Right when Wendy williams
divorce hit, I remember being at TMZ and just working
and reporting on these stories and be honest with y'all
in the beginning, you know, in pitching the fact that
I knew that the divorce was coming. My boss at
the time had said to me like, look, you know,
we don't really be cause it's a thing like a
lot of times I outlets, you don't want to report
(02:55):
on another outlet or on another personality because number one,
whatever you're reporting, it could be you. So you try
to give some grace about that, but also too it's like,
you know, you don't want to you ain't giving out
your platform too freely. But Wendy Williams is Wendy Williams,
especially for me a person growing up in this so
I knew that once divorce was filed, you know, from
her ex husband, Kevin Hunter Senior, and you know there
(03:17):
have been conversations about a baby that he had in
their marriage, and you know, all of the things mixed
in and being that it was Wendy Williams who had
done her career the way she did for so long,
I knew would be a big story. When that story
hit and we covered it, it was everywhere. During that time,
Wendy Williams was really faced with a decision, and a
decision that she made on her show, if you guys remember.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Was to get into her own business.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
It's been the motto of the Hot Topics Bureau since
the show was invented during our six Weeks snak peak
eleven years ago. And it's so crazy because now my
business is your business. It's kind of funny. And addressing
my sobriety, my addiction head on has really helped me
(04:03):
sort out every single compartment of my life. And by
the way, I will still commit because you'll forget about
my business any moment now, and then I commit that
the model of the show will always be their business
is our business, That's.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Right, Which was very like I saw that, and I said,
Wendy Williams, as long as she is able to do
her show and be here and be a voice, will
never ever get old.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Like you, no matter who comes up in.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
The media game, you will never surpass where Wendy is
because she gets it. She leaned into her own drama.
She begin having conversations about it on her show, conversations
about being single and figuring out life after and just
all the things right now we fast forward to where
she is now in the breakfast club conversation. The reason
why I knew that interview was going to be something
to watch, to see her be vulnerable in this way
(04:57):
about you know something she is going through, where you
know she is, you know, alleging that she is so
helpless in being taken advantage of it is a very
different position to see a Wendy Williams.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And since then, if.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
You guys have been following, you know the covers that
we've been doing here at the Latest with Laura La Rosa.
We did a conversation last the last time I talked
about Wendy Williams, I gave you guys a Mother's Day
update on Wendy Williams. Make sure you guys go and
check out that episode, and it gave you a brief
glimpse into how she spent her Mother's Day, which I
was told wasn't the best. She sat in her room alone,
the same room where she cannot, you know, receive calls in.
(05:30):
She can only call out that whole thing. Right today,
it is her birthday and she was actually out last
night in New York celebrating. She was with Susanne, who
we all know from the Wendy Williams Show because Wendy
Williams would show her on camera often she was her
producer that she would kind of do talkbacks with sometimes
on air. Let's take a listen to Wendy out with
Susanne last night.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh, how you doing? Happy birthday? Wendank you any plans
for your birthday tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Celebrating with you, y'all. I'll be there a great friend
of mine from my show. Okay, what are you wishing?
For on your birthday out of guardianship.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Okay, okay, okay, I got a what are you plan
What do you plan on discussing at dinner? Hi?
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Weddy? What to eat?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Hey?
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Gay? This is my attorney and that's my friend. All right,
enjoy your dinner and happy birthday now.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
As we celebrate Wendy and her birthday here today, I
think one of the things that's important to have a
conversation about is the fact that Wendy Williams's life is
just way different now. Wendy Williams is still very much
under her conservatorship. The fight is still actively going on.
We begin to hear from her in the public a
lot less, and I know you guys are wondering why,
(06:50):
and you know, in me trying to bring some clarity
to that and some insight on that, I did reach out.
I reached out to two people. I reached out to
Joe Takapino, who was once serving as her personal attorney.
It's been a while since I've spoken to him, so
not for sure if that is still his role. Have
not heard back from him yet. I reached out to
an attorney who was actually the who's actually the attorney
for Wendy Williams conservator Sabrina Morsey, but not in her
(07:14):
guardianship case in the case that she has against A
and E. That is the case over the lifetime Wendy
Williams documentary that Wendy Williams claim she did not want
to put out and all of the things. I reached
out for updates to all of these people. I wanted
to know. You know, how was Wendy today, How was
she feeling? We saw her out last night. Thus she
had plans on her actual birthday. Where's her thought process?
(07:35):
You know, it's certain things you want to celebrate with
certain people, with your family, with your friends. And we
have been told when I tried to go and visit Wendy,
we had later been told and it came out when
her guardian, Sabrina Morrisey did an interview with Vanity Fair
that Wendy was allowed to have family come and see her,
so her niece Alex Finny and you know family members.
(07:58):
You know, they alleged or able to come and see
Wendy and all of the things. Now, according to the
attorney for the A and D lawsuit on Sabrina Morrisey's behalf,
I reached out to them and said, Hi, I'm checking
in to see if there's been any movement at all
in this case here now before this, the last time
I spoke to them was months ago. I said, I know.
(08:19):
Last we spoke, there was a pause requested. And with
the pause I'm referring to is the pause in the
A and E lawsuit. Because Wendy Williams was saying she
didn't want the conservativeship, she never wanted this lawsuit, she
never wanted all these things, so they wanted to pause.
They wanted her to take some tests to prove she
is competent to make her own decisions, and then move
forward with will the lawsuit go on or not, because
(08:41):
she's claiming she was put in a bad position by
this lawsuit and she didn't want this. So they said,
you know what, let's take a pause. The Sabrina Morrissey,
the Conservative ship said let's take a pause. Let's figure
out she can make her own decisions, and then from there,
let her make her own decisions if she can, we
don't even want to be involved. So that pause has
been ongoing for it's been over six months now, and
it was supposed to only last for but so much time,
(09:01):
but it's still ongoing. I'm asking has there been any
testing somebody at this point, because that is last what
we talked about. You guys are waiting on to then
be able to submit to a court. Where are we
what is happening? So they said testing is underway, which
is an update, because last I spoke to them, and
last I spoke to people on Wendy side, Wendy Williams
was refusing to take the tests. There were reports of that,
(09:24):
and then I've been told from a source close that
that is what was happening, only because she felt like
she had already been tested, she'd already proved her competence
and she didn't want to go do with any more testing.
But according to this email, as an update, Wendy Williams,
there is testing underway, allegedly testing to make sure that
she is not cognitively impaired, that she is not dealing
(09:45):
with dementia, frontal lobe dementia and the other things claimed
to the point where she cannot make her decisions. The
attorney for the guardianship on the A and E laws
who says the tests are not fully complete, but we
think they will be complete soon then a report will
need be provided to the court. The A and E
case is still paused, but it won't stay that way indefinitely.
(10:06):
So on Wendy's birthday, you know, it would have been
such a joyous thing to be able to say, hey,
you know what Wendy wanted from this as far as
like what her freedom looked like and all those things
is what she got.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's her birthday and she is celebrating.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
But we are here an update that things are moving
behind the scenes, but we still haven't gotten to where
we wanted to get to.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I don't know. I mean, it's very to me. I
think it's very.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Clear that Wendy is competent enough to know what's going
on and know how she feels, know what she wants,
what she doesn't want. Do I think that she will
probably need some assistance just because she does deal with
you know, the different health issues that she's talked about,
and you know, she's just an older woman at this point,
and she is Wendy Williams. So yes, Wendy Williams, whether
(10:48):
the conservativeship was here or not, would have some helping hands.
She's Wendy Williams. She's going to need that. But do
I think that she should be locked away on her birthday,
sitting in a room, limited access to who she can
talk to and all those things.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
No.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
I do think guard rols are good, especially because she's
dealt with and openly talked about dealing with addiction of sorts.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
But man, to.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Say Happy Birthday Wendy Williams and know that she's probably
sitting up in that room trying to figure things out,
having conversations on the phone, and celebrating through a phone
where she can only make a call out saddens me.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
It does.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, man, I said, we wasn't going in this on
the side. No, dang, I don't know. There's really no
way around it. It's just when you look at where
we know Wendy Williams to be and where her life
is today, there's no way around the conversation we just had.
So I'll keep you guys updated on anything and everything
(11:42):
else that I hear, of course, because y'all know that's
what we do here on the latest what Laurena Rose
of the podcast, Okay, I tell you guys every single
episode that at the end of the day, there's always
so much that you can be talking about And you
could be anywhere with anybody talking about it and listening
to them talk to you about it, but y'all choose
to be right here with me, my low writerers. I
appreciate you, guys. I will catch you in my next episode.