Don Lemon Asks Wendy Williams If She Is ‘Incapacitated’ in New Interview

“They’re trying to control me and everything that I do,” Williams, 60, claimed as she described her “ridiculous” life under her court-appointed guardian

Wendy Williams attends Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” world premiere at David Geffen Hall on October 28, 2019 in New York City. Photo: Roy Rochlin/WireImage

Wendy Williams is setting the record straight on her health.

After opening up in a rare interview with Charlamagne tha God on The Breakfast Club on Jan. 16, Williams, 60, also spoke to her longtime friend Don Lemon for his podcast, The Don Lemon Show, as she continued to reveal the dire circumstances of life under her conservatorship.

“My life is ridiculous,” she told the former CNN anchor. “I’ve been with this guardian person for three years. For three years of my life… I’m isolated. I feel like I’m in prison. I can’t go out. All I can do is look at the window.”

Williams, who lives in a wellness facility in New York City, was clear on the fact that she is not “incapacitated.” After Lemon, 58, asked if she was, the former TV host replied, “Hell f—ing no.”

When Lemon said that her court-appointed guardian Sabrina Morrissey “has said you’re incapacitated permanently and that you have dementia,” which Morrissey claimed in a November court filing, Williams admitted, “I don’t know how much I can talk without being punished.”

She expressed her concern that she “won’t be able to see my dad, and I won’t be able to do anything, and I’ll be stuck in this prison I’m in for the rest of my life” should she open up about certain parts of her guardianship, which began in May 2022 and has left her family without access to her.

Wendy Williams and her son Kevin Hunter Jr. Honored With Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame on October 17, 2019 in Hollywood, California.Leon Bennett/WireImage

“I’m not in a good position,” Williams continued. “My life is screwed up. You know, this guardian mess is — please, look, I am isolated. I feel like I’m in prison. I feel like, you know, they’re trying to control me and everything that I do.”

PEOPLE has reached out to Morrissey for comment.

Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is suing A&E, Lifetime and the producers of the Where Is Wendy Williams? docuseries on behalf of Williams, says the former talk show host “suffers from frontal lobe dementia, a degenerative brain disease that has no cure.”

“As a result, a state court found her to be legally incapacitated, meaning that she is not capable of making legal and financial decisions on her own,” Kaplan says in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “Unfortunately, because of her diagnosis, Wendy’s condition will only get worse with time and she will require care for the rest of her life. But as anyone who has had a family member with dementia knows, Wendy has both good days and bad days. It is truly a shame that there is so much voyeuristic attention to this right now, since it only leads to the same kinds of exploitation that we saw in the so-called documentary, as alleged in our complaint.”

Williams said that the “only thing that I can do for myself is I can keep myself of sound mind and body,” but she told Lemon that the “old age home” where she’s living in N.Y.C. is not exactly conducive to that.

“The people that live here are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s. And I don’t know, maybe they’re 60 like me, I can’t tell. People are in wheelchairs,” she said, adding that the other people who live there are “not of my sound mind and body.”

TV personality Wendy Williams attends the 2019 NYWIFT Muse Awards at the New York Hilton Midtown.Lars Niki/Getty

The Wendy Williams Show host also told Lemon during the interview that she wants to get back to work.

“I don’t want to work, like, five days a week. I want to pick and choose what kind of work I want to do because that’s the type of person I am now,” she said.

She also doubled down on her desire to relocate to Miami, where her family, including her son Kevin Hunter Jr. and her 93-year-old dad live. “I wanna pick and I wanna do it in Miami. And I want to pick and choose because that’s the type of person I’ve become, and that’s the type of person I always wanted to be — living in Miami with my family.”

A source with knowledge of the matter explained that the guardianship court ultimately decides whether it is safe for Williams to travel to Florida or other locations. She is currently in a facility with 24/7 medical care.