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Wendy Williams’ niece shares glimpse into the life of her aunt in new doc

By Eric Jones, Dominick Proto, Anastasia Elyse Williams, Angeline Jane Bernabe, and Shafiq Najib Feb 22, 2024 | 8:00 AM
Williams in 2020 – Robert Kamau/GC Images

Ahead of the upcoming Lifetime documentary Where Is Wendy Williams?, Wendy Williams‘ niece, Alex Finnie, opened up in an interview with Good Morning America.

Williams became a household name from her daytime show The Wendy Williams Show, which she hosted for 12 seasons.

Known for her signature greeting, “How you doin’?” Williams entertained a massive audience with her famous “Hot Topics” gossip segment on the show and her celebrity interviews.

Wendy’s public appearances, as well as her show, came to a rather abrupt end after producers announced the end of the talk show in February 2022, due to Williams’ prolonged health struggles, which included Graves’ disease and a thyroid condition.

Speaking to ABC News’ Deborah Roberts, Finnie admitted that the upcoming documentary detailing the reality of Williams’ life is hard to watch.

“[W]hat people are gonna see is a broken woman who has had the world on her shoulders for so long — and just cracked,” she explained.

During the two years of filming the documentary, Finnie spent days and nights with Williams where she witnessed some of the star’s low moments, including an excessive drinking habit and moments of incoherence.

When asked about criticism that the film could be exploiting Williams, Finnie told Roberts, ” … some people will look at it and think that. But I will say this, first and foremost, my aunt is the executive producer of this documentary.”

She continued, “I said to her, ‘Aunt Wendy, why are — do you wanna do this? … Is now the right time?’ And she said, ‘Now is the perfect time because I wanna take ownership of my story.'”

Where Is Wendy Williams? will debut on February 24 and February 25 on Lifetime.

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