Wendy Williams, the former daytime television host who was given a diagnosis of dementia and placed under a guardianship, insisted in an interview on Thursday that she was not cognitively impaired and complained about the restrictions she faces living in a care facility.

Williams last filmed her popular talk show in the summer of 2021, and a year later a court appointed a legal guardian to oversee her personal and financial affairs, according to court papers. Her guardian’s lawyers claimed in court papers that Williams “suffers from dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated.”

But Ms. Williams, whose family has questioned the guardianship before, pushed back on that characterization of her health on Thursday during a telephone interview on “The Breakfast Club.”

“I am not cognitively impaired,” she said on the program. “But I feel like I am in prison.”

Ms. Williams was at times upbeat, and emotional at others, complaining about life in the care facility and breaking down when discussing the possibility that she might not be able to leave and travel to see her father when he celebrates his 94th birthday.

She complained about the care facility, which she did not name, saying that it housed patients up to 90 years old. “There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor,” she said. “And I’m not saying something bad. I’m just saying that I am with these people.”

“Look, I have breakfast, lunch and dinner right here on the bed,” she said. “I watch TV, I listen to radio, I look at the window, I talk on the phone.” She said that she did not have access to a laptop or an iPad, and suggested that her phone capabilities were limited.

Williams’s niece, Alex Finnie, who also phoned into the show, described the facility as a “luxury prison.”

“I’m not asking for a whole lot,” Ms. Finnie said. “All I’m saying is just treat the woman with dignity and give her the freedoms that she deserves.”

She said that members of their family “want her free.”

Ms. Williams said she had spent a lot of time in isolation at the facility, including her last three birthdays there. “I would rather spend my birthday by myself than open the door and spend my birthday with these people on this floor,” she said.

Questions about Ms. Williams’s health had spread in recent years amid reports of erratic behavior and videos that circulated on social media. A court appointed an independent guardian to oversee her affairs after Wells Fargo, which was involved in her finances, initiated guardianship proceedings in 2022.

According to court documents submitted by the guardian who was ultimately appointed, Wells Fargo had “documented a pattern of unusual and disturbing events” related to Ms. Williams’s welfare and finances. The specifics of the powers granted to the guardian, Sabrina E. Morrissey, are not clear because a court sealed many of the related court filings.

Ms. Morrissey wrote in public court papers that Ms. Williams was diagnosed in 2023 with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.

Concerns about Ms. Williams’s health and well-being resurfaced last year when Lifetime aired a two-part documentary, “Where Is Wendy Williams?,” which gave fans a glimpse at her life since leaving her show. Her guardian, Ms. Morrissey, whose identity was concealed throughout the documentary, tried to block the network from airing it but failed. Ms. Morrissey is currently in a civil dispute over the documentary with A&E Television Networks, which owns Lifetime.

Ms. Morrissey could not be reached for comment on Thursday regarding Ms. Williams’s complaints.

Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer representing Ms. Morrissey in the A&E lawsuit, said in a statement that Ms. Williams suffered from “a degenerative brain disease that has no cure” and that a state court had found her to be legally incapacitated, and not capable of making legal and financial decisions on her own.

“Unfortunately, because of her diagnosis, Wendy’s condition will only get worse with time and she will require care for the rest of her life,” Ms. Kaplan said. “But as anyone who has had a family member with dementia knows, Wendy has both good days and bad days. It is truly a shame that there is so much voyeuristic attention to this right now, since it only leads to the same kinds of exploitation that we saw in the so-called documentary, as alleged in our complaint.”

In the interview, Ms. Williams hesitated to share some details about her ongoing case but lamented that she had just $15 and that her personal items were in storage. “I am definitely isolated,” she said.