(NewsNation) — Former talk show host Wendy Williams has secured high-profile attorney Joe Tacopina to represent her in her ongoing guardianship battle, a significant development in her nearly three-year legal struggle.
Tacopina, known for representing clients including Alex Rodriguez, Michael Jackson and President Donald Trump, confirmed his involvement with Williams’ case.
“I am representing her. I am her lawyer right now,” Tacopina told NewsNation’s “Banfield” when questioned directly about the rumors.
Wendy Williams’ guardianship
Since May 2022, Williams has been living under a legal guardianship, according to PEOPLE. This guardianship oversees her finances as well as her health. The former host was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
Williams’ health care advocate, Ginalisa Monterroso, told PEOPLE that Williams had wanted to be placed in a guardianship with the courts. However, she didn’t know her rights would be taken, including having no access to her cell phone or the internet.
Under her guardianship, Williams can no longer:
- Decide where to live
- Decide how to spend her own money
- Have her own bank account
PEOPLE reported that Williams also can’t vote or marry as well as decide what doctors she wants to use or what friends can visit her. To do anything, she must get permission from her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey.
Where is Wendy Williams now?
Williams remains in what she reportedly describes as a “luxury prison” — a tightly controlled assisted-living facility in New York. Since 2022, she has been under the direction of her court-appointed conservator Morrissey.
Williams said her conservatorship feels “suffocating” and compared it to prison. She also suspects that her guardian might be misusing her money. She also claimed that her toiletries are locked away and she has to ask to use them.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 21: Wendy Williams attends a private dinner at Fresco By Scotto on February 21, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage) 
FILE – In this Nov. 7, 2014, file photo, TV talk show host Wendy Williams arrives during the 2014 Soul Train Awards in Las Vegas. (Photo by Omar Vega/Invision/AP, File) 
This image released by Lifetime shows Wendy Williams, subject of the Lifetime documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?” (Calvin Gayle/Lifetime via AP) 
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 21: Wendy Williams attends a private dinner at Fresco By Scotto on February 21, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage) 
FILE – In this Nov. 7, 2014 file photo, host Wendy Williams appears at the 2014 Soul Train Awards in Las Vegas. Lifetime’s “Where is Wendy Williams?” documentary will air this weekend as scheduled after a New York court rejected an attempt to block the broadcast. The order signed Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 by a New York appellate judge says blocking the documentary from airing as planned on Saturday and Sunday would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – Wendy Williams attends the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show,” Oct. 28, 2019, in New York. The former talk show host has been diagnosed with the same form of dementia that actor Bruce Willis has, according to a statement released Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, on behalf of her caretakers. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) 
FILE – TV talk show host Wendy Williams attends a ceremony honoring her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Los Angeles. Williams has been diagnosed with a rare form of dementia called frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, according to a statement released Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, on behalf of her caretakers. It affects parts of the brain controlling behavior and language. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File) 
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN @ HOME — Episode 17152 — Pictured in this screen grab: Wendy Williams — (Photo by: Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
“I need out of this,” Williams said. “I have no idea why I’m here. It’s $18,000 a month, which is extremely expensive. And what do I have? I have a bedroom and a bathroom and a window.”
Williams’ family told PEOPLE in 2024 that she can reach out to them, but they cannot call her. The only person who has full access to Williams is Morrissey.
Monterosso claims that Williams “didn’t want her family to be involved. She didn’t want to… burden then with anything,” according to PEOPLE.
Williams continues to say she is not “cognitively impaired” and has been “trapped” in an emotionally abusive conservatorship.
Fans supporting Wendy Williams in ‘Free Wendy’ protests
The announcement comes as fans have mobilized in support of Williams, staging “Free Wendy” protests outside her facility in New York City this week. Demonstrators gathered below Williams’ window, chanting slogans reminiscent of the “Free Britney” movement that helped end Britney Spears’ conservatorship.
Williams was seen acknowledging supporters from her window during the demonstrations.
Neither the terms of Williams’ guardianship nor the identity of her guardian have been publicly disclosed.