The former talk show host Wendy Williams was diagnosed with FTD last year, her care team announced in a Feb. 22 statement.

“In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD),” her care team said in the statement.

Williams, who is 59, began her career in radio in the early 1990s in New York, where she quickly became famous for her brash opinions and often controversial celebrity interviews. She made her move to television in 2008, when her talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, began airing in syndication.

Since at least 2017, Williams’s fans have expressed growing worry about her well-being. In their statement, her care team acknowledged such concerns. “Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions,” the statement said.

“Unfortunately, many individuals diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia face stigma and misunderstanding, particularly when they begin to exhibit behavioral changes but have not yet received a diagnosis,” it continued.

The decision to go public with Williams’s diagnosis was made at least partially to raise awareness of the ways that FTD and other dementias can affect one’s behavior, the statement said.

“There is hope that with early detection and far more empathy, the stigma associated with dementia will be eliminated, and those affected will receive the understanding, support, and care they deserve and need,” Williams’s care team said.

Williams is the second high-profile figure in the last 12 months to have their FTD diagnosis known publicly, after Bruce Willis’s family spoke out in February 2023. As Williams’s care team noted, such announcements can contribute significantly to greater public awareness and understanding of FTD.

AFTD is reaching out to Williams and her family to offer any resources they may need on their FTD journey.

Production on a documentary about Williams began shortly after her TV show ended in mid-2022. The crew stopped filming in April 2023 amid escalating concerns about Williams’s health, according to a People magazine story that will be published in its March 4 issue.

The documentary, entitled Where Is Wendy Williams?, will premiere on Lifetime on February 24.