Wendy Williams’ Publicist Calls New Documentary “Exploitative”
Following the conclusion of the new Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary, the former host’s publicist, Shawn Zanotti, feels that Williams was “being exploited.”
“She thought we were focusing on the comeback of her career… She would be mortified. There’s no way you can convince me that she would be OK with looking and seeing herself in that way,” Zanotti, who also featured in the doc, told NBC News.
Zanotti told the outlet she was first pitched the documentary by Creature Films and eOne Television in 2022. This was the same company behind Williams’ previous documentary, Wendy Williams: What a Mess! This time, Zanotti shared, “When I mentioned [doing a documentary] to Wendy, she immediately said: ‘Yes, I would love to do it. I would love to be able to get my story out there.’”
Yet, Zanotti said what aired was not what they agreed on.
“That is not the project that [Williams] signed up for. That’s not the project [the producers] brought to me. That’s not what I told her this was going to be about,” she noted. “There were a lot of good moments. None of those good moments were shown.”
Prior to the documentary, Williams’ management revealed that she’d been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Zanotti said that she hasn’t spoken to Williams since she entered a treatment facility back in April, but is still her publicist.
Producers have admitted that had they known about Williams’ health issues, they wouldn’t have proceeded with filming, but Zanotti is calling their bluff.
“I don’t think [the diagnosis] would have stopped them at all,” she told NBC News. “The producers were asking questions throughout the entire time — would ask questions where she would somewhat seem confused, and I feel as though it was done to be intentional at that moment in time to make their storyline. Again, this was presented as a documentary to her, but to me, it looked as though it was a reality show of a circus, a circus to her downfall.”
