Who is Roberta Kaplan? Wendy Williams's attorney says host is still suffering from dementia in wake of upbeat interview

Wendy Williams' attorney, Roberta Kaplan, recently responded to the TV host's claims made during an interview on The Breakfast Club on January 16, 2025. Wendy said during the conversation that she is not "cognitively impaired" and felt like she was in prison as she addressed her current condition at a facility in New York City.

However, Roberta Kaplan denied Wendy's words as she spoke to TMZ the same day. Roberta confirmed that her client has been diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia, which does not have any cure for now and this was one of the reasons why she was seeking help in the interview.

Roberta is mostly known as the founding partner of Kaplan Martin LLP. The bio on her LinkedIn profile says that she has gained recognition as "one of the top litigators and women litigators" and has been a recipient of different accolades.

Roberta Kaplan also mentioned that Wendy will need help as she continues battling with her disease and clarified that Williams is not having a bad time for all the days of the entire year. Furthermore, Kaplan said that Wendy's health problem was the reason why the New York state court considered her to be incapable of making legal and financial decisions.

Notably, Wendy said in the Thursday interview that she was living in a place where she was not allowed to leave or go for a walk. Wendy was also accompanied by her niece Alex Finnie, who said that her aunt has been restricted from contacting anyone and has spent most of her birthdays alone.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wendy has been living at the facility since 2023 and Alex told Charlamagne Tha God during the conversation that her aunt is sitting in the same room every day and is "not getting proper sunlight." She continued:

"I went to New York in October to visit her. And the level of security and the level of questions that there were in terms of, 'Who am I? Why am I here? What's the purpose?' I mean, it was absolutely horrible."

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Roberta Kaplan has a long list of experience in different companies over the years: Career and other details explained

The Cleveland, Ohio native has been an expert in commercial litigation and public interest cases. The 59-year-old also won several accolades, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York Law Journal and the Gay Men's Health Crisis Joan H. Tisch Award.

Roberta Kaplan completed her higher studies at Harvard University and Columbia Law School. Her self-titled official website says that her list of clients features popular names such as Uber and Columbia University, represented by her when she worked for the multinational law firm Paul, Weiss between 1999 and 2017.

She is also known as the cofounder of the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund to help those who have been victims of s*xual harassment at their workplace.

Among her list of cases, the most popular has been the United States v. Windsor, where the Supreme Court ruled a provision of the Defense of Marriage Act violated the U.S. Constitution by not allowing legally married same-sex couples from getting the benefits of marriage that come under federal law.

Roberta Kaplan has even written several articles on legal topics and is employed at the Columbia Law School as an adjunct professor of law. She is the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Gay Men's Health Crisis and the subcommittee chairman of the Commercial Division Advisory Council in New York.

Roberta Kaplan's LinkedIn page stated that her career started many years ago as a law clerk for the Hon. Mark L. Wolf at the U.S. District Court in 1991. She was also a partner for Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP for seven years and is currently married to Rachel Levine.

She is additionally active on X (formerly Twitter) with more than 30,000 followers and she joined the platform in 2012.