Wendy Williams and her ex-husband filed a $250 million lawsuit seeking to end her guardianship on Tuesday, June 17.
Kevin Hunter, who was married to the talk show star for 21 years until their divorce in 2020, filed the federal suit in New York saying the guardianship “has become a weapon, not a shield.”
The suit is against Williams’ legal guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, who was appointed by a New York judge, Wells Fargo bank — who first raised the alarm that Williams may be in trouble in 2022 — her one-time financial advisor Lori Schiller and her ex-manager Bernie Young, as well as a list of other defendants.
The lawsuit, which uses Wendy Williams’ married name, Hunter, stated: “Ms. Hunter, [is] being abused, neglected, and defrauded under the care of court-appointed guardians.
“The guardianship … serves no therapeutic purpose, no protective function. It is punishment—pure and simple. “Currently, Ms. Hunter is being confined against her will at one of Coterie’s assisted living facilities with restricted access to her own phone and meaningful contact with her friends and family.”
Williams voluntarily entered into the guardianship in 2022 shortly after Wells Fargo bank froze her accounts in January 2022 due to “suspicious activity” and sent a letter to the courts recommending a guardianship.
But Kevin Hunter, 52, claims in the court papers that Wendy Williams – who has been diagnosed with Graves’ disease, frontotemporal dementia and progressive aphasia – is competent to make her own decisions, but her guardians are ignoring medical advice and keeping her in “fraudulent bondage.”
The lawsuit then notes none of the people looking after Williams have applied to revoke the guardianship. It also describes how Williams spiraled after her divorce from Hunter – who had already started a family with another woman at the time – and was “left to navigate complex financial and medical matters without Mr. Hunter’s experienced oversight.”
It then accuses Schiller and Young of exploiting Williams’ “trust and financial resources,” and spending tens of thousands of her money without her knowledge. It also claims Williams was “coerced” into the guardianship “under immense financial duress and emotional strain.”