Wendy Williams Was Paid $400,000 For Lifetime Docu Plus $1,000 Daily Stipend, Court Docs Reveal

Wendy Williams

Wendy Williams Was Paid $400,000 For Lifetime Docu Plus $1,000 Daily Stipend, Court Docs Reveal

Media maven Wendy Williams was promised nearly half a million dollars for Lifetime’s controversial documentary about her life.

Radar Online, revealed the details of the project’s contract, which her legal guardian argues she wouldn’t have signed if she was mentally fit.

Reportedly, Wendy Williams inked the deal in early 2023, right before she was officially diagnosed with progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. In the agreement, the network stated they would pay her $100,000 per episode of the 4-part documentary as well as a $1,000 daily stipend for glam.

The contract reportedly read:

“Producer shall pay Artist a fee of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per shoot day that is pre-approved by Producers that glam is required for the shoot day, as a reimbursement for all of Artist’s and Artist’s associate’s, hair and makeup,”

As you may recall, the aforementioned documentary drew widespread backlash as many deemed it “demeaning” and “exploitive” across social media. The docu-series titled, Where’s Wendy Williams?, was supposed to trail her comeback to hosting after the cancellation of her eponymous talk series. However, the disturbing project ended up telling the story of Williams‘ mental decline and struggle with her physical health and alcoholism.

Williams’ appointed guardian Sabrina Morrisey filed suit against the network prior to it being released. She argued that the project did indeed take advantage of the 59-year-old and challenged the validity of the contract. In the suit, Morrisey wrote:

“She was not, and is not, capable of consenting to the terms of the documentary Contract…And no one acting in [Wendy’s] best interest would allow her to be portrayed in the demeaning manner in which she is portrayed in the Trailer for the documentary.”

She also claimed that Williams was deceived about the nature of the series and was told she’d be portrayed “in a positive manner like a phoenix rising from the ashes”, which some feel was not the case. However, a Lifetime producer reportedly claimed they were unaware about the entertainer’s mental condition, stating:

“If we’d known she had dementia, no one would’ve rolled a camera,”

It’s really, really heartbreaking to see Wendy Williams like this in an excerpt from the doc airing on Lifetime Saturday. We now know she’s been diagnosed with aphasia and dementia pic.twitter.com/NEU2WPu63R

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) February 22, 2024

It seems a court judge agreed. The documentary was allowed to be aired despite Morrisey’s request for an immediate injunction to stop its release, and premiered on the 24th of last month.

Do you think Wendy Williams was underpaid for the documentary? Tell us in the comments!