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