Friday, December 5, 2025

Exclusive: R&B Legend Gladys Knight is Just Fine, Doesn’t Have Dementia, and Is Not Being “Forced to Tour” — I Just Spoke to Her

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Gladys Knight is A Okay.

I just spoke to the R&B legend and her husband, William McDowell. They were in their car driving in North Carolina, and picked up the phone when they saw my number.

Yesterday they spoke to Dionne Warwick.

Why all the calls? A rumor went out on the wire that Gladys had dementia and was being “forced to tour” by William, who is also her manager.

The scurrilous reports came from Gladys’s son, Shanga, filing a complaint against them in NC alleging elder abuse. It was very alarming. Gladys is a national treasure.

But good news: the famed singer of “Midnight Train to Georgia” is perfectly fine, well and alive, and making perfect sense.

Gladys told me, by the way, she will likely be in attendance at the US Open. She’s a huge tennis fan.

Gladys will also be on tour with her pals Patti Labelle, Stephanie Mills and Chaka Khan again soon. Believe me, they won’t let anything bad happen to her.

As for the son, Shanga, we’ll stay out of private family matters. But he needn’t worry about his amazing mom!

Here’s Gladys performing at Clive Davis’s 2024 Grammy pre-party.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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