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“It was a labor of affection for us to inform Wendy’s story with dignity and duty,” Hanson mentioned.
Even now, with the information of her analysis, the producers mentioned in a Tuesday interview with The Washington Submit that they stand by their choice to air Williams’s discomforting moments, hoping it’s going to spark conversations about guardianships.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Q: How has the documentary been acquired by viewers and Williams’s household?
Ford: The response has been overwhelming, [with] an unbelievable quantity of polarizing opinions. We all the time knew it will be. However we expect it’s elevating an extremely essential matter, which is what can occur to somebody once they’re positioned underneath a guardianship outdoors of their household’s purview.
We spoke to the household earlier than the documentary and after it aired. They usually’re, after all, overwhelmed by the quantity of help and commentary. However they had been and stay actually supportive of the subject.
Hanson: We all know that there are occasions that it’s laborious to look at. It may be painful and unhappy, and it was that means filming, too. However to have the ability to make clear the truth of Wendy’s life throughout that time frame underneath the guardianship was so essential to us. And it’s been actually attention-grabbing to see viewers have that very same form of response of empathy and understanding.
Q: How did you join with Wendy, and what had been you attempting to perform with the documentary?
Ford: Initially, it was the continuation of the documentary that we did along with her, “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!” It was simply supposed to select up the story the place that left off and observe Wendy [as she] will get her profession again on a trajectory and will get again within the public eye through a podcast.
It grew to become obvious over the months of filming that she wasn’t going to be in a spot to launch a podcast. The story was revealing itself as one thing else. We had no selection however to maintain going in direction of this fact.
Within the movie, you possibly can see the filmmakers wrestling with lots of [unanswered] questions and issues. We needed to know why Wendy was alone on this New York residence, form of on her personal volition with out lots of care, with out lots of meals within the fridge, and entry to alcohol. Why was this occurring, and why was the household not part of this?
As we bought into filming, the household’s perspective grew to become entrance and heart.
Hanson: I used to be drawn to this story initially [because] Wendy is such an icon and extraordinary determine in popular culture [who’s] so forthright in her ideas and opinions.
As we started to movie, we grew to become very involved about her and her relationship with alcohol. It’s a two-story residence. She has lymphedema. We had been all terrified that she would fall down the steps. And lots of us in our personal lives have been touched by dependancy.
We didn’t know concerning the dementia analysis in any respect. It was actually solely till the very finish of us filming that we came upon when the household shared that with us. It was a labor of affection for us to inform Wendy’s story with dignity and duty. At occasions, it was difficult [like] after we went to go movie her getting vapes. That was a very good instance of “How and when can we cease filming? What’s in her greatest curiosity? However how can we additionally make clear this terrifying actuality of what her world was like?”
Q: What shocked you most whereas filming?
Ford: Probably the most surprising a part of filming is that every part that you simply see on this documentary occurred whereas Wendy was alleged to be underneath the care of a court-appointed guardian that’s entrusted along with her funds and her well being.
This may very well be the extent of care that any of our relations may very well be receiving in the event that they’re put underneath a guardian’s care, and that is the world-famous Wendy Williams. There are such a lot of different households on the market that don’t have a platform to inform their tales. None of us bought into this movie pondering it was going to be masking a guardianship. However we couldn’t draw back from that fact.
Hanson: The reality at occasions isn’t snug. And to point out somebody’s fragility, the reality was laborious on this scenario.
Q: How concerned was Wendy within the manufacturing of the documentary? Did you could have any qualms about displaying her in such a weak state?
Hanson: Each day, we talked to Wendy about what we had been doing. She was conscious of every part we had been capturing, and he or she had opinions about whether or not she needed to do it or not. She’d tell us if she was executed for the day. We needed to strike a stability. It was essential to point out issues that at occasions are tough to look at to actually present what she was coping with. After we came upon the analysis, we stopped filming shortly after that. So it was a day-by-day choice of easy methods to navigate her world.
Ford: As soon as we knew the analysis, the story shifted into the households’ perspective concerning the guardianship and the extent of care that Wendy was receiving. That’s actually the one extra filming we did.
Wendy was an EP on it. She had opinions. At first of the documentary, Erica requested her, “Are there any stuff you’re not snug with? Are there any boundaries right here that we shouldn’t cross?” Wendy mentioned, “No, ask me something.” That’s very true to the Wendy that everyone knows and love.
