Lifetime‘s controversial Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary proved to be a big draw for the cable network.
The 4 1/2-hour documentary, which aired over two nights on Feb. 24 and 25, averaged 1.04 million same-day viewers, according to Nielsen. That’s more than triple the average primetime audience for Lifetime in the previous three weeks, which hovered a little above 300,000 viewers.
Where Is Wendy Williams? also brought in more viewers (at least in same-day figures) than Lifetime’s January docuseries The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, which averaged 887,000 viewers over its six hours. Lifetime cited a three-day average of 1.1 million viewers for the latter show, which represents a 24 percent lift from delayed viewing. A similar bump for the Williams documentary would put it at a little under 1.3 million viewers. (Nielsen ratings figures don’t include streaming.)
A few days before the documentary premiered, a press release from Williams’ care team shared that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Her health had been the subject of heavy speculation since her daytime talk show ended in 2022.
A day later, a rep for Williams gave a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Let me say, wow! Your response has been overwhelming. The messages shared with me have touched me, reminding me of the power of unity and the need for compassion.”
Producer Mark Ford told THR that “if we had known that Wendy had dementia going into it, no one would’ve rolled a camera.” Williams’ guardian also unsuccessfully sued A+E Networks, Lifetime’s parent company, to block the release of the show.