No one behind the scenes of Lifetime’s much-discussed docuseries Where Is Wendy Williams? could have fully known everything that would transpire with the former talk show queen’s health and personal life when filming. Especially considering the doc’ origins were centered on Williams’ unrealized plans to start a podcast in the wake of The Wendy Williams Show’s final episode airing after a full season without her in the purple chair. With all four parts of the cable project having aired, one of Williams’ former talk show producers has spoken out about how pained she felt while watching.
Yazmin Ramos rose up the ranks behind the scenes at The Wendy Williams Show, not only in going from production assistant to senior producer, but also going from a dutiful employee to a trusted colleague who spent a ton of time with Williams on a regular basis. As such, Ramos found it very difficult to watch a friend she knew so well become someone entirely unfamiliar during the course of Where Is Wendy Williams?, which she opened up about in a self-authored article for Business Insider.
In Ramos’ heart and mind, Williams will always be the same woman who won over millions of fans with her long-running, Hot Topic-filled show, someone who told it like it she saw it, experiencing the world without many filters. But with the camera crew beginning filming just as the public was starting to learn she was facing a number of health problems amidst a reportedly heavy addiction to alcohol. According to Ramos:
The Wendy I know loves to have fun and takes power naps in the middle of the day so she can "dip it and do it," as she famously told Wendy Watchers. The Wendy I know, would never want to be seen without wearing a wig and wouldn't want the camera zooming in on her feet as she deals with her painful lymphedema diagnosis.
In her years on the show, Yazmin Ramos says she always worked hard and went the extra mile for Williams, who acknowledged and rewarded it at times. The woman she knew was warm and embracing. She continued:
To be transparent, there were moments when I felt overlooked by the leadership team, but I never allowed it to affect my work. And regardless, it felt like Wendy saw me. I felt she loved my ideas and creativity. Wendy allowed me to shine and challenged my producing skills. As a result, I was the only producer invited to Wendy's 10-city tour to produce Ask Wendy. She also featured me as a guest to discuss my visit to the Trap Music Museum, a physical curation of hip-hop music in Atlanta. It's been three years since I last saw Wendy. In 2021, I decided to leave the Wendy Show'after working for the company for 12 seasons. When Wendy found out, she called me at 9:50 a.m., 10 minutes before walking through the studio's double doors. I was met with support.
While Ramos didn't directly indicate that the docuseries offered up any false information about her former boss, she did stress the hope that at least some people come away from watching it with positive mindsets about Wendy Williams still intact. As well, that the former host knows the impact she's made on those she worked with and entertained, even if Where Is Wendy Williams? didn't always hone in on positive vibes.
Yazmin Ramos isn't the only former Wendy Williams Show vet to have spoken out about the celeb's sudden downswing. DJ Poof said that it wasn't obvious to those on the show that Williams was suffering from any problems, though he personally had an inkling something was amiss because he'd "been around it."
In the docuseries, Williams’ niece Alex Finnie told the producers that after the news broke that The Wendy Williams Show was canceled, it didn’t truly take hold in her aunt’s mind for an unexpectedly long time. Finnie claimed it took “weeks, months” to convince Williams from going out and saying that she was returning to the show, which painted a very troublesome picture, with her memory coming into question at several points in the Lifetime project.
Ahead of the docuseries' airing, representatives for Williams went public with her medical diagnoses, revealing she suffered from primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, and that both had already "presented significant hurdles" in her life.
Though filming stopped in April 2023 as things grew more serious, it wouldn’t be surprising if network execs are already planning on a follow-up for down the road. For now, Where Is Wendy Williams? can be streamed on Lifetime.
