Mark Ford (‘Where Is Wendy Williams?’ producer): Docuseries is ‘a platform for Wendy and her family to share the truth’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
The Lifetime docuseries “Where Is Wendy Williams?” was originally supposed to be a chronicle of the popular talk show host’s return to the A-list after numerous personal struggles and health crises. But as executive producer Mark Ford tells Gold Derby, the final product was much different. “I think it’s safe to say that no one who joined the team on this project expected it to be the project that it turned out to be,” declares Ford.
What it turned out to be was a look at how Williams’s mental health drastically declined during the film of the series; she was ultimately diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and is currently under the control of a court-ordered guardianship. The filmmakers realized early on that something was very wrong with Williams, leading to debates over exactly what should be filmed and what should make it to air. “At the time we began filming, we had no idea what was wrong with her, but we knew something was,” explains Ford. “So the film became a journey and exploration for the filmmakers to determine what is going on here and should this be a film or not.”
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Ford says that it was a deliberate decision to make the production team a part of the narrative, in part so that the audience would see their own questions and concerns mirrored by the filmmakers. “It was important for the audience to hear those questions and hear that the filmmakers were asking those questions,” he argues. “We felt like was really important to share with the audience because we didn’t know all the answers. It seemed like no one around Wendy knew all the answers. Wendy certainly didn’t know all the answers.”
The series has certainly garnered an array of reactions, with some praising it for its unflinching honesty and others calling it exploitative. Ford understands both perspectives. “We knew it would be very polarizing and that people would have a visceral reaction to seeing it,” he says. “But at that point, it really became a platform for Wendy and her family to share the truth.”
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