The Wendy Williams Experience

by Wendy Williams

  Since our talk, Wardell has done quite well for himself. After more than a year of trying, he was able to finally serve Jennifer Lopez—who had proven to be quite elusive—with papers to testify at his civil trial. He had someone set up to act like they wanted her autograph. When she took the paper to sign, she was officially served.

  It was brilliant because serving J.Lo may have been the very thing to settle his case. In addition to not wanting to testify himself, perhaps Puffy in an act of gallantry settled the case rather than put J.Lo through the whole rigmarole of a trial.

  On February 3, 2004, Wardell, forty-five, who was suing Puffy for three million dollars for emotional suffering, loss of work, and false imprisonment, had his case settled by Puffy for an undisclosed amount that I have been told is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.2 million. Not bad, Wardell. Not bad at all.

  I originally thought Wardell should have taken the ring and the money that Puffy allegedly offered him. But I guess he knew better. I thought he would end up with nothing . . . but a story to tell.

  He ended up with money and a story to tell.

  INTERVIEW SESSION

  Wardell Fenderson

  WW: This is Wardell Fenderson. Wardell Fenderson, everybody! The interesting part of meeting you are the interesting stories, of things making sense about J.Lo and Puffy. So how long have you been driving?

  WF: As a professional?

  WW: Yes.

  WF: Since 1979.

  WW: You have driven some famous people.

  WF: Very famous.

  WW: Like who?

  WF: Robert De Niro, Bill Murray, Harrison Ford. I worked for a limousine service, and these were some of the people that I happen to come across. I’ve even driven the late great Leonard Bernstein.

  WW: These are one-time drives?

  WF: Some.You never knew who you would be driving.

  WW: What was the longest celebrity contract you had?

  WF: Actually, working for Puffy for those three months.

  WW: How did you come to know Puffy to drive for him those three months?

  WF: A friend of mine, who was Puffy’s weekend driver for more than a year, was going into the hospital to have surgery. And he asked me to hold the job down for him. I arranged with my boss to have my weekends free to do it. And that’s how it happened.

  WW: Were you excited?

  WF: At first I was excited. Then I started seeing the shenanigans and I knew the job would be more than I bargained for. Coming from a corporate environment and driving mostly wealthy corporate executives, CEOs, and company owners and going into this was like a culture shock.

  WW: So would Puff and Jennifer [Lopez] ever have sex in the cars?

  WF: I wouldn’t know anything about that. I have never witnessed that.

  WW: What did you mostly drive? Suburbans?

  WF: A Navigator and his Bentley.

  WW: I always say it’s very hot to be seen in a Suburban or a Yukon, with the windows blacked out, but you lose your privacy as a celebrity. If you pull up in a stretch, it’s not trendy at all. It’s corny.

  So, was he open with you—as far as his phone conversations or conversations with others in the car? Or was it guarded conversation?

  WF: He was always on the phone, talking with someone. Sometimes he was talking in hushed tones.

  WW: See, I would be a nervous wreck because there you are in the car.

  WF: I was invisible—

  WW: —until something jumps off. Can you lead us up to the time—that terrible night at Club New York? Had you taken he and Jennifer out?

  WF: Most of the time when I drove him or her, it was never to any private planes or anything. It was usually to or from a video shoot.

  WW: Were they lovey-dovey in the car?

  WF: Not much. But they did have their moments.

  WW: Did you ever witness them fight?

  WF: Yes.

  WW: Is she strong, like fearless?

  WF: Not at all. He would belittle her and sometimes have her on the verge of tears, which would put me in an uncomfortable position. It wouldn’t happen all the time. But when it did—

  WW: Would it ever be just you and her?

  WF: No, there was a bodyguard present all the time.

  WW: Was Puffy’s persona with the bodyguard that of a friend, a comrade, one of being protected, or that of employer-employee?

  WF: It all varied, depending on Puffy’s mood.

  WW: His mood controlled everything? Did his mood control Jennifer?

  WF: I would say so. She knew who was in charge of that relationship. . . .

  WW: And it was him.

  WF: Oh, yeah!

  WW: Wow! The image that a lot of people have of Jennifer Lopez is as this strong, fearless woman. I happen to believe that she has a soft and pink side, the side you’re talking about. Soft and pink behavior. So I’m not shocked. But I know people might be shocked to hear that. Is Puffy a nice boss?

  WF: I never saw him as being a nice person. He is controlling, very arrogant, and feeling like “My money can take me anywhere.”

  WW: Would he call Jennifer a dumb bitch?

  WF: I had not heard that. But he has a temper. I have heard him use obscenities toward her.

  WW: Janice Combs. Have you ever driven her?

  WF: One of the first times I drove him, I drove her too.

  WW: Was she a nice woman?

  WF: She was happy because she finally had somebody decent with a little bit of class [driving]. I talked with her about my family, about my vacation, as opposed to women and things like that.

  WW: Did Puffy hang out with a lot of male friends?

  WF: Him and Shyne used to hang out a lot.

  WW: Did he come to his house a lot?

  WF: Shyne was basically under his wing a lot. That’s why, quite frankly, I was shocked by the way it all went down. Maybe when Shyne comes out [of jail] there will be twenty million dollars waiting for him. I don’t know. You never know. Smoke and mirrors.

  WW: How did Jennifer get along with Shyne? Puffy and Shyne were like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They were working on music together. How did Jennifer act around Shyne?

  WF: I didn’t pay any attention. I didn’t notice any way she treated him or anyone else. I drove Puffy most of the time without Jennifer, like to the Video Music Awards. Most of the time I drove, it was just him. Two out of three times it was just him with a bodyguard.

  WW: Have you ever driven Kim Porter, Puffy’s baby’s mother?

  WF: I did drive her occasionally.

  WW: Was she a nice woman?

  WF: I stayed in my place as a chauffeur.

  WW: Did she tip well?

  WF: I never got a tip.

  WW: Was Puffy cheap?

  WF: It depends on who he is spending the money on. I never got a dime extra from him. I never got a grape. I got what I was making, but never nothing extra.

  WW: Was he with Bentley Farnsworth at that time?

  WF: No.

  WW: Let’s talk about that night at Club New York. What time did you meet up with Puffy?

  WF: I cannot remember the exact time. It was somewhere around eleven. I met him at the parking lot across from his studio [Daddy’s House], a block away from the club.

  WW: How did he get to the studio?

  WF: I picked him up from the Hamptons.

  WW: How did Jennifer get there?

  WF: She came from the Hamptons with him. His mother was out there too.

  WW: So he’s there and asks you to pick him up. And you drive him and Jennifer to the club. So you get to the club and what happens?

  WF: There are a whole lot of people there. It’s a real scene.

  WW: I imagine, after the incident popped off in the club, the doors bursting open and Puffy and Jennifer come running out, her hair flying, getting caught in the door as it closes. You didn’t go in the club, right?

  WF: I have no idea what happened in the club. I got a call to meet them in front of the clu
b. “Make sure you’re ready to come out, because the police are not going to let me sit on the street, and if they tell me to move I will have to circle the block and that may take a while, so make sure they’re ready to come out,” I told the bodyguard. He said, “Okay, I’ll call you back.” About ten minutes later he called me back and said, “We’re heading for the door now.”

  So I pulled the Navigator right outside the door when all of a sudden I see people come diving out of the club screaming, “They’re shooting, they’re shooting!”

  WW: You are ly-ing!

  WF: I put the car in gear and I was ready to peel out.

  WW: You were ready to leave Puffy and Jennifer there?!

  WF: I would have left. I wasn’t waiting around to see anything metal coming my way.

  WW: You have a wife, you have kids?

  WF: I have a family. I have three kids.

  WW: In other words, you have something to get off the block for. You have something to live for.

  WF: Exactly.

  WW: Wow! So, through the melee, you see Puffy and Jennifer? Or do you see the bodyguards? Who do you see first?

  WF: Puffy comes out with Curtis, one of his bodyguards. Jennifer is nowhere in sight.

  WW: What?!

  WF: The car door opens and Curtis is trying to get Puffy in the car. But Puffy, in a moment of gallantry, says, “No, we can’t leave without Jennifer!” So Curtis goes back inside to retrieve Jennifer. And Jennifer comes out of another door with Wolf.

  WW: So where’s Curtis?

  WF: He’s back in the club looking for Jennifer, but she already came out of another door. She gets in the backseat with Puffy. Wolf gets in the front seat, in front of Puffy. And Jennifer is seated behind me.

  WW: I imagine Puffy sitting in the back, screaming like a bitch. You say what?

  WF: He’s saying, “Yo, dog, how do you open the stash! Open the stash!”

  WW: Is his voice like twenty octaves high when he was talking?

  WF: Yeah. He was a nervous wreck.

  WW: Is this his truck?

  WF: It is registered to Bad Boy.

  WW: In other words, this is his truck and he’s asking you how to open the stash?

  WF: Which I never even knew existed.

  WW: Of course! Who is thinking that? What about Wolf—what is he doing?

  WF: He’s asking the same question.

  WW: And he’s screaming too?

  WF: Yes. And Jennifer was screaming, “Shyne busted off in the air! Shyne busted off in the air!”

  WW: Is she crying? Is she talking like a ghetto princess?

  WF: It was like a scene out of a movie. We should have had cameras in the car.

  WW: Who was the biggest bitch in the car?

  WF: Puffy was.

  WW: Well, I guess he had the most to lose. So Jen is screaming. And does Puffy turn to her in a moment of stress and say, “Shut the fuck up, bitch?!”

  WF: No. He is too busy constantly asking me to open the stash and telling me to drive.

  WW: So you pass one light, two lights, three lights, ten fucking lights, eleven lights. You must have been driving . . . how fast?

  WF: We weren’t going that fast. We just weren’t stopping. It wasn’t a high-speed chase. I would come to a red light and I would check the cross traffic before going through. I wasn’t just barreling out of control through the lights. I was concerned about my safety.

  WW: Was one of the things going through your mind, “I am quitting this job in the morning”?

  WF: Ironically, that was supposed to be my last night driving him. After I dropped off his mother from the Hamptons, I asked him if he would be needing me. He said, “No, I’m not coming back until Monday or Tuesday.” And I only drove on the weekends. So this was going to be my last night driving him. I was going to go to Bad Boy offices that Monday and let them know that I would no longer be driving for them.

  WW: Oh, my God! That’s amazing. So, Wardell, how much were you making, if you don’t mind me asking?

  WF: Two hundred and fifty dollars a day. No matter whether I worked two hours or fifteen hours. It was the same.

  WW: So that’s five hundred dollars for the weekend. . . . So at the eleventh light, what is the fever in the car?

  WF: Panic, bedlam, frenzy.

  WW: Where was the stash? Did you ever open it?

  WF: It was explained to me that the stash was somewhere in the console. I never got to see it. It opened a secret compartment in the car. There was some combination that you had to know that included adjusting the temperature, the radio, and pushing some other controls to make it open. The genius didn’t know how to open his own stash. A rocket scientist.

  WW: So a gun goes flying out of the window at some point.

  WF: I never saw the gun. I saw the amber light flood the car. And I know he put his window down.

  WW: A gun was found on the street by cops.

  WF: That’s what I heard, and one was found under Wolf’s seat.

  WW: That was after you guys finally pulled over.

  WF: Yeah. And when the cops stopped us and we all got out of the car, Jennifer tried to walk away. The cops said, “Where do you think you’re going?” She said, “It’s not my gun!” Those were her exact words, and she proceeded to walk down the street.

  WW: Was she crying? Or was she Jenny from the block? Tough?

  WF: She broke down in the car.

  WW: What was her demeanor when the cops stopped you?

  WF: I have no idea. I didn’t have time to have a demeanor, I was already in handcuffs and in the back of a police car.

  WW: What made you pull over after you ran the eleventh light? Did they barricade you?

  WF: There was a police car that I would have had to evade and continue the chase. I was really concerned.

  WW: Be damned everybody else.

  WF: I said, “Okay, guys. Chase over!”

  WW: Before the cops had a chance to talk to you, is that when Puffy offered you his ring?

  WF: He said he wanted me to hold it as collateral to make sure I knew he was good for the money. But he didn’t offer me the ring until we got into the jail.

  WW: Did you take the ring?

  WF: No.

  WW: What’s going on in your mind? Is it money, what we all want so much? This is your ticket to a full-time driving job. You got a fifty-thousand-dollar ring. He will match the money and still let you keep the ring? And you would be driving for him permanently probably for about seven hundred dollars a night.

  WF: Or I would probably be dead.

  WW: Do you go to church?

  WF: I go to church occasionally. But I have God in my heart, always.

  WW: So they put Jen in cuffs, how did that look?

  WF: I didn’t see her in cuffs. All I know I was the first one to have a gun pointed at my head. I was the first one out of that vehicle. I was the first one in handcuffs.

  WW: Well, you were driving the getaway car. Did they have the gun they found in the street?

  WF: That was allegedly found at another time and turned in by someone else—not the cops. That came out during the trial.

  WW: When they asked you about it, did you tell them about the open window?

  WF: I cooperated with the district attorney.

  WW: How did your life change after that night?

  WF: I lost a dream job, driving for an executive at a major corporation. This was my regular nine-to-five, so to speak. This was my main gig. And I lost it. I would rather not say the name of the man or the company because he’s a very private man but after that fiasco, he called me and said, “Listen, Woody, I really love you.”—Woody is my nickname—“I like you working for my family, but I cannot have you driving my family around with the possibility of someone from that club coming after you at any moment. I cannot risk that around my family.” And I couldn’t blame him. I couldn’t blame him.

  WW: There’s been a lawsuit filed.

  WF: Yes, in October 2000.


  WW: It’s been a long, arduous process. How much are you suing for?

  WF: Three million dollars. And they dismissed one of the counts. I don’t know how these things work.

  WW: What are you suing for?

  WF: Unlawful imprisonment and assault, verbal assault.

  WW: Is Puffy a verbally abusive man?

  WF: To people? Yeah!

  WW: To you ever?

  WF: No, I wouldn’t put up with it. I would have left that job a long time ago, if he were verbally abusive. I don’t care who you are, I don’t take that.

  WW: When do you think you will know something?

  WF: In December/January. [Note: The trial started in January. And on February 2, 2004, a day before Sean Combs was to testify at the trial, he settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.]

  WW: Do you have posttraumatic stress from that?

  WF: They made me feel very uncomfortable.

  WW: Did you detect any How You Doin’? while working with Puffy?

  WF: Ohhh, How You Doin’? (Laughter.) One night, I was picking Shyne up from his residence and was taking him to the Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan. Puffy was in the car and he was describing to Shyne an incident where a Caucasian man who didn’t recognize his celebrity status had actually made a sexual advance toward him. And from the conversation, I got that Puffy thought it was funny that this guy was coming on to him. He didn’t sound like he was offended at all—which is the reaction of most straight men.

  WW: Have you ever seen Puffy express feminine characteristics or emotions toward men?

  WF: No. The only interaction I had with him was in the car.

  WW: Did you ever drop him off at a questionable address, up the street and around the corner, where you knew where he was really going?

  For years I have been told about private parties where people looking for a particular service can find what they are looking for. For instance, I work with somebody who is into feet. He goes to exclusive foot fetish parties. The parties are thrown every week and the venue is changed about every two months. It can be in a fabulous brownstone on the Upper East Side or a well-appointed loft on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The host is well paid. The music is right. The food is perfect. The women are top shelf. And it’s by invitation only.