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Less than 72 hours before the premiere of Lifetime’s two-part docuseries “Where Is Wendy Williams?,” the former talk show host’s team announced that she has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (Ftd), the same disease that Bruce Willis has. Amid the news of Williams’ health crisis — which is immediately evident on the show— this docuseries feels invasive at best and predatory at worst.

“Where Is Wendy Williams?” is designed as a follow-up to her 2021 documentary “Wendy Williams: What A Mess,” which dove into Williams’ public divorce, apparent mental health crisis and other public mishaps. That same year, Williams also executive produced “Wendy Williams: The Movie,” a TV film starring Ciera Payton that chronicled the entertainment host’s personal life and career trajectory. What’s now clear is that “Where Is Wendy Williams?” is not a series about the next chapter of Williams’ life but instead an...

Wendy Williams is baring it all. The troubled talk show host is getting candid about her recent money woes and personal challenges in a new, two-part Lifetime documentary, Where Is Wendy Williams?

‘Where Is Wendy Williams?’ is an intimate look at a troubled celeb

“Since I was six years old, all I wanted was to be famous,” Williams says in a trailer for the upcoming doc.

The outspoken Williams eventually achieved her goal, first gaining notoriety as a radio DJ in New York City before transitioning to TV as the host of the syndicated daytime talk series The Wendy Williams Show, which premiered in 2008. But a decade later, personal problems began to overshadow her professional accomplishments.

In 2017, Williams fainted during a live broadcast of her show. In 2020, she divorced her husband of more than two decades after he fathered a child with another woman. Williams also battled various health problems,...

For the first time in over a year, we are seeing the return of Wendy Williams in her new Lifetime documentary Where is Wendy Williams?

The documentary, set to premiere on Lifetime over two nights, February 24 and 25, was filmed over the two years following Williams’ exit from The Wendy Williams Show in 2021. It captures Williams’ struggles after she was placed under a financial guardianship and her hit talk show was unexpectedly canceled. Per Lifetime. “Opening the doors to her private life like never before, cameras chronicled her comeback journey to reclaim her life and legacy despite facing health issues and personal turbulence.”

“Since I was six years old, all I wanted was to be famous,” Williams says in a voiceover heard over chants of fans and behind-the-scenes footage of her talk show.

Lifetime was granted unprecedented access by Williams to film her and her family.

“Wendy has been part of...

Exclusive: Lifetime has upped Tia Maggini to SVP, Scripted Programming for the network, from her VP role.

Based in Los Angeles, Maggini oversees the development and production of original scripted content for Lifetime.

“Tia’s commitment to her work is only surpassed by her passion to make films the very best they can be,” said Tanya Lopez, Executive Vice President, Scripted Programming, Lifetime & Lmn to whom Maggini reports. “I value her skills and her partnership every day.”

Maggini joined the networks in 2014 as Vice President, responsible for developing and managing Lifetime movies, miniseries, limited series and back-door pilots. She has been charged with shepherding the network’s big budget, talent-driven feature films and additionally supervises creative development for a ten-person team.

During her more than six years with Lifetime, Maggini has been the programming executive for some of its highest rated movies, including the buzzy film, Wendy Williams: The Movie,...

Clear your calendars for May: That’s when the women of Run the World are going to start doing what the show’s title implies.

The Starz comedy hails from creator Leigh Davenport (Wendy Williams: The Hot Topic) and showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser (Living Single). It stars Bresha Webb (Marlon), Amber Stevens West (The Carmichael Show), Corbin Reid (How to Get Away With Murder) and Andrea Bordeaux (NCIS: Los Angeles), the show will follow four professional women in their 30s who live in Harlem and also happen to be best friends.

More from TVLineDan Stevens Replaces Armie Hammer in Starz'...

Lifetime is expanding its Harry & Meghan Creative Universe to air a third movie about the embattled royal couple.

In the wake of Oprah Winfrey’s blockbuster interview with the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Lifetime has greenlighted “Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace,” which promises to “reveal what ultimately lead to the couple’s break from the royal family.”

The new film is the follow-up to Lifetime’s 2018 entry “Harry & Meghan,” which chronicled the newlyweds’ love story, and 2019’s “Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal,” which looked at their experiences inside the Royal Family during their first year of marriage.

Lifetime is now billing the three movies as their “Harry & Meghan” movie franchise trilogy. Casting is currently underway for the “Escaping the Palace,” and production will begin this spring, with an airdate eyed for fall.

Menhaj Huda, who directed the first two films, is back to helm this one,...

The masses showed up and asked “How you doin’?” for the Lifetime biopic Wendy Williams: The Movie and the documentary Wendy Williams: What a Mess! The double feature event, which aired on January 30, put the spotlight on the popular talk show host and became cable’s #1 movie and documentary, making Lifetime the top network for the night.

Wendy Williams: The Movie delivered staggering viewership numbers, besting all cable movies in the last nine months among adults 25-54 (1.2 million), women 25-54, adults 18-49 and women 18-49 in Live+3 ratings (according to Nielsen Media Research). The biopic drew 2.9 million total viewers in Live+3 and was the top telecast in prime time on January 30 with W25-54 and W18-49.

Immediately following the biopic was the docu Wendy Williams: What a Mess! which became Lifetime’s best non-fiction telecast in more than two years among total viewers (2.6 million) and women 25-54 in Live...

Wendy Williams’ shoes are note easily filled — and not just because she wears a size 11. The DJ-turned-daytime-host is among the more colorful personalities in the American media landscape. So to play the famous gossip hound in her authorized Lifetime biopic would require not only confidence — but a few costume enhancements.

Enter Ciera Peyton. The actress, who reprises the role of Lilly Winthrop on Tyler Perry’s The Oval when it returns, Feb 16, stars as Williams in Saturday’s Wendy Williams: The Movie. Despite being the casting director’s first choice, Peyton was only able to film the project after Covid wreaked ...

Wendy Williams’ shoes are note easily filled — and not just because she wears a size 11. The DJ-turned-daytime-host is among the more colorful personalities in the American media landscape. So to play the famous gossip hound in her authorized Lifetime biopic would require not only confidence — but a few costume enhancements.

Enter Ciera Peyton. The actress, who reprises the role of Lilly Winthrop on Tyler Perry’s The Oval when it returns, Feb 16, stars as Williams in Saturday’s Wendy Williams: The Movie. Despite being the casting director’s first choice, Peyton was only able to film the project after Covid wreaked ...

Wendy Williams is ready to tell her story—but why now? As we await the premiere of the Lifetime biopic Wendy Williams: The Movie, along with an accompanying documentary, E! News' Justin Sylvester asked the media mogul this very question on the Wednesday, Jan. 27 episode of Daily Pop. "Because Lifetime came with the proposal that I wanted," Wendy said during the exclusive chat. "Things just never worked out. But that was when I was still married." The Wendy Williams Show host famously split from her husband of over 20 years, Kevin Hunter, back in April 2019 following rumors that he had been cheating on her and fathered a child with his alleged...

As screenwriters of the Lifetime original movies “Salt-n-Pepa” and “Wendy Williams: The Movie,” Abdul Williams and Leigh Davenport, respectively, were each proposed an exciting challenge by Lifetime: They had to condense the rich and aspirant lives of cultural trailblazers to fit neatly into the television movie format.

“Salt-n-Pepa” follows a 20-year journey for the titular “first ladies of rap and hip hop,” while “Wendy Williams: The Movie” tells tales about the daytime talk show host from her childhood to the present. Although these women are icons now, their journeys to that star status couldn’t just focus on the pioneering highs. Both Davenport and Abdul Williams were committed to delivering a well-rounded narrative about complex, ambitious Black women in the entertainment industry.

Despite the fact that Salt-n-Pepa had success “before they even really knew what was happening,” says Abdul Williams, “I think there’s certain universal things about the story,...