Speaking to PEOPLE, Bell said he has been Nichols' manager for 12 years.
“It’s pretty devastating what is going on with this icon,” he said.
“I knew [Nichols and her son] had a bad relationship,” she said. “I’ve never seen Nichelle scream like that.”
“It’s like, what is going on behind closed doors every day?” she continued.
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE that officers conducted a welfare check at Nichols' home on Tuesday, but declined to provide further information.
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Fawcette, a movie producer, said she met Nichols in 2012 and has remained extremely close with her ever since, visiting her twice a month in recent years.
“She was going to be an actress in one of my films. I didn’t think it would turn into a friendship,” Fawcette explained. “But she ended up being way more than just an actress. She became like family, like a mother to me.”
Nicholsreportedly suffers from dementia, but Fawcette, who said she last saw the actress two or three weeks ago, insists she “is not a victim of delusions.”
“I’m not a doctor and I’ve never gone to an appointment with her, so I don’t know what type of dementia she has, but I know she has short-term memory loss,” Fawcette said. “But she is not unaware of who she is, nor is she not aware of her surroundings. She is not having outbursts.”
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Fawcette said she has become invested in protecting Nichols and, at her request, even recorded a video of her in 2013 in which she states her desire to be her own legal guardian and continue working. The video, which Fawcette posted on YouTube in 2018, can be viewedhere.
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“I asked her son to please just do what his mother says, let her work and visit her fans,” Fawcette said. “He basically laughed in my face.”
Johnson filed a petition in 2018 to assign a conservator for his mother. In the petition, Johnson claimed that Nichols needed court-ordered protection because certain “individuals have unduly exerted themselves into Ms. Nichols' life to her detriment.”
In the documents, Fawcette alleged that Johnson’s “primary purpose” in becoming his mother’s conservator was to obtain access to her estate, “including, but not limited to, her income and personal and real property.”
In her objection, Fawcette also alleged that Johnson is “absolutely careless” with Nichols' wellbeing and “except for a few occasions over the last six years, did not bother to visit [her].”
She alleged to the court that Johnson’s plan was to place Nichols in a rest home to “preclude her from acting and gain ownership and possession over her income, home and other property.”
Fawcette told PEOPLE she doesn’t trust Johnson “at all” and insists Nichols “does not want to retire.”
But she’s not giving up on her beloved friend.
“Now that I’ve spoken out, he’s not going to let me see her,” she predicted. “I’ll just have to go back to court to fight for my visitation rights. I just hope that she’s okay.”
Nichols broke a major race barrier when she was cast as Lt. Nyota Uhura in the 1960s sci-fi seriesStar Trek.When the show first aired in 1966, Nichols was one of the first black women to play a major role on primetime television.
She also worked torecruit diverse astronauts to NASA, including women and ethnic minorities. Among those who were recruited as a result of the program was Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut.
source: people.com
