EXCLUSIVE: Star Trek star Nichelle Nichols screams for her life in conservatorship battle https://t.co/5Jr3fPGwO3 @cbs46 pic.twitter.com/AkXaVEZYMv
โ Jonathan Carlson (@TVreporter) May 29, 2019
A new report from local news station CBS46 in Atlanta reports having obtained video and audio of Star Trek star Nichelle Nichols “screaming for her life” at the center of a battle over legal control of her decision-making powers and estate. The legal battle began when the 86-year-old Nichols was reportedly diagnosed with dementia. Her son, Kyle Johnson, filed for legal guardianship over her, but handlers and friends insist that he does not have Nichols’s best interests at heart. Gilbert Bell, claiming to be a long-time friend and Nichols’s manager, offered a video that he claims shows Nichols looking at the legal documents filed by her son for the first time.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“I’m the boss of me Gill, he’s not the boss of me,” Nichols says. Then, after the camera is put down, she can be heard saying, “I didn’t give permission to have conservatorship over me. I didn’t know what he was doing.”
Her son then allegedly enters the room and Nichols screams “You get your hands off me. You’re trying to get rid of me.” Los Angeles police have been made aware of the situation, but say they haven’t launched an official investigation as of yet.
Nicols’s son spoke to CBS46. He claims that Nichols doesn’t have a management team, but did not comment on or deny the accusations made against him or what seems to transpire in the recording.
In August 2018, Nichols’ friend Angelique Fawcette filed legal documents claiming that Nichols wrote a note to her son in March 2017 informing him that she wants to amend her will after he told Nichols, “I can’t wait to get rid of this sh*t and sell [your] house and property.” Fawcette claimed that the dementia diagnosis that began this legal battle is illegitimate because the doctor who examined Nichols, Dr. Meena Makhijani, is not a trained psychiatrist and lacks the necessary qualifications to make such a diagnosis.
Fawcette went on to say in legal documents that she has observed Nichols regularly performing daily tasks without assistance. She claimed that the most help Nichols has ever needed is an occasional reminder that a bill is due.
Makhijani is Nichols’ geriatrician and the doctor’s initial report suggested that Nichols was suffering from “moderate progressive dementia” and that her symptoms include “major impairment of her short-term memory and moderate impairment of understanding abstract concepts, sense of time, place and immediate recall.” Johnson claimed to have had his mother examined for the condition because others had been taking advantage of Nichols’s impaired mental state, saying that these individuals “unduly exerted themselves into Ms. Nichols’ life to her detriment.”
What do you think of the situation surrounding Nichelle Nichols? Let us know in the comments.