'Star Trek' Star Nichelle Nichols' Friends Speak Out About Conservatorship After Son Sells Actress' Beloved Home 'From Under Her'
Aug. 20 2021, Published 11:58 a.m. ET
Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols' friends are addressing her conservatorship battle after the 88-year-old star's son sold her beloved home "from under her."
Nichols' only son, Kyle Johnson, was appointed conservator of the star's person and estate in January 2019.
He raised flags months when he released a disturbing video of his mother — who suffers from dementia — shouting in protest over what Johnson claimed were legal papers about her conservatorship.
Now, Johnson has sold off Nichols' beloved home she's had since 1982, and her friends aren't happy.
"She's been like a mother to me," Angelique Fawcette, who was a dear friend of Nichols, told PEOPLE. "It's been horrendous. It's been painful to watch her go through this experience."
Fawcette said selling the actress' home was the tipping point.
"When the house was sold, I was very hurt for her," she said. "She has no place to go back to anymore. It hurt me because I knew that it would hurt her. She stated that she wanted to remain in her home, yet the court let her son move her out."
Nichols' former manager Gilbert Bell agrees.
"Her home is gone. It's been sold out from under her. She would be horrified if she knew that," he told PEOPLE.
"She was proud of [that house]. She designed it. She helped build it. She planted the trees on it. It was a dream come true for her," he said. "No matter where we were, when she came back from a convention and she would come into her home, she would sing to the house and say, 'Hello, home. Hello, house. I'm home.'"
According to Fawcette, she has not seen Nichols since 2019. She claims she was denied access to the actress after publically condemning the video her son took.
The Times reports Nichols' Woodland Hills, CA home and her guesthouse were sold last week for $2.2 million.
Bell says that was her son's game plan from the beginning.
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"He [had told me] he didn't think she should be in her home and that it was a white elephant," Bell said. "[He said] she had no business being there, that he wanted her in a one-bedroom condo."
As for where Nichols is now, Johnson revealed he and his mother have relocated to New Mexico, where they live in a rental home.
"We have moved here, and we're going to remain here," Johnson told The Times, adding their home is "smaller, a little more modest than being in Los Angeles, but meeting our needs."
