Im posting this for fans of hers who might be interested. Its sad. Its also a reminder for all of us to have ironclad legal end of life plans.
The link is unfortunately paywalled. (I have my ways of getting around that.) My brief summary would be that her manager, who paid to live on her property, says she should be back on her own home, seeing people, while her son thinks that the manager was exploiting her, became her conservator, and has her in a house near him. She herself has dementia, but no one is sure how bad it is because she’s not been seen in a few years. The son thinks it’s better for her to be alone, while the manager wants her out seeing fans.
My take is that the manager was likely exploiting her, given the financial situation she was in. But, at the same time, it doesn’t seem that she would like to be so isolated from her fans, given what she’s said in the past. On the other hand, if she’s really far gone, maybe she wouldn’t want to be seen like she is.
Her friend is still quite concerned, and seems to think that neither side is working entirely for Nichols’s best interests entirely. She thinks it’s weird that even she’s not been able to have contact with her. Even if she’s too far gone to really handle fans, surely she could use her friends. She’s actually trying to go through legal channels to get the rights to check up on her.
Also, there’s a video of Nichols saying she didn’t want to be in a conservatorship, but, as the article points out, that’s common in those who need one. But it does make me more wary, even if I do think the stuff about the manager also looks fishy, and was likely part of why conservatorship was granted.
I’ve avoided naming names in case my summary at this late hour is thought unfair by others, as I don’t want to directly accuse them.
Dementia patients do better in a stable, routine environment. Mom did pretty good for a long time at home, but when I went into the hospital for awhile and couldn’t care for her, she had to go into a facility. After that, it became apparent just how badly she was doing. When I got well enough to see her, she didn’t even know me. I feel like the routine helped her ‘keep it together’ for much longer than she would have otherwise.
I’m sorry to hear she’s in such a state.
I’ve heard similar stories about Stan Lee’s last days.
The unfortunate truth is, it’s not always easy to tell what’s in a person’s best interests, when their mind is deteriorating.
I saw Nichelle Nichols at the only Star Trek con I ever went to, in London around 8 years ago. Obviously this was one brief meeting, plus seeing her from across the room as she sat at the autograph table thing, and was helped in and out of her chair, but it did not seem to me like she should have been there. She was out of it, barely capable of making eye contact or talking.
The location, a very long trip from home (though not quite the final frontier), probably contributed to it. For events in LA or where her son lives she might have been rested enough to chat, sign autographs, etc. It was a long time ago, and I’m sure she still had good days back then.
But on this particular day, Nichols looked out of it and ill. It was not pleasant to witness.
If the agent is claiming he did her a good deed by getting her back to work, even including travelling halfway across the world to sign autographs, I’m not certain that’s true.
Yeah, it sounds like the agent had her traveling all over to make sure the nice appearance payments kept rolling in. 
And she’d have been the one to pay for the travel for herself, him and any others coming along - but he would have been paid his percentage before all that.
The great jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell is rumored in the jazz world to be in a similar state, kept isolated by his much younger wife. Friends and colleagues are concerned.
I myself have no idea what the truth is. But I know all too well how easy it is to exploit old people as they slip into dementia.