LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS -- Episode 1160A -- Pictured: Wendy Williams during an interview with host Seth Meyers on June 15, 2021 -- (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Wendy Williams‘ publicist, Shawn Zanotti, is now speaking out amid recent statements from producers of the Lifetime documentary ‘Where Is Wendy Williams?’. As The Shade Room previously reported, the producers defended airing the documentary despite the criticism its received.
Zanotti sat down for an exclusive interview with NBC News, which was published on Wednesday, February 28. She explained that she believed the focus of the documentary would be on Williams’ comeback.
“I felt that [Williams] was being exploited,” Zanotti explained. “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.”
As The Shade Room previously reported, producers also noted that documenting Williams’ comeback was the initial intention for the series. However, once they began filiming, they told The Hollywood Reporter “it became evident that this wasn’t really going to be a career comeback story… this was going to be a deeper story.”
Zanotti went on to say that Williams’ wanted to get her “story out there.” However, the final outcome in ‘Where Is Wendy Williams?’ was not what the TV host “signed up for.”
“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,'” the publicist explained. “[But] 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. There were a lot of good moments. None of those good moments were shown.”
As The Shade Room previously reported, the documentary producers told The Hollywood Reporter that if they had known of Williams’ dementia diagnosis “going into” filming, “no one would’ve rolled a camera.”
However, Zanotti does not believe this is true.
“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.”
As the interview continued, Zanotti explained that she shared her concerns about the documentary with Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey. Instead of tackling those concerns, Zanotti alleges that Morrissey and the production company ignored her.
“I did not agree with what was going on with this documentary,” she explained. “I made it very clear to the guardian. The production company was aware of that. I didn’t — I didn’t agree with the way this was moving and shaking. And instead of them dealing with it with me, they decided to ignore me. They ignored me from that moment, and I never heard from them again.”
As The Shade Room previously reported, Mark Ford, one of the documentary producers has alleged that their own interactions with Morrissey were “unpleasant” or “terse” hang-ups. However, all communication related to the series ran through Williams’ manager, Will Selby, to Morrissey. Ford alleges that Williams’ manager and guardian were kept in the loop of everything documentary-related during the filming.
However, Zannoti remains unsatisfied and is now asking the big question at the forefront of the minds of everyone who watched the documentary.
“That is not the project that she signed up for,” Zanotti reiterated. “My concern at this point is: What’s really going on? Who really does have her best interest at heart?”
