PSA: Nichelle Nichols GoFundMe for Elder Abuse- Not the full story
There is a painful story going around right now, asking for money to support Nichelle Nichols on GoFundMe.
I hate, hate, hate having to go all tabloid reporter and dig into the personal life of a hero, but there are two conflicting stories about who is actually the abuser. As a result, it’s not 100% clear to me whether the GoFundMe will actually benefit Nichols or harm her.
Story A: Nichelle Nichols’ family set up the page on behalf of her son Kyle Johnson’s countersuit against her manager Bell, alleging Bell is living in a house on her property and siphoning off her money. Johnson claims his mother has dementia and Bell tricked her into making him her conservator after she was mentally incapacitated. There’s a link on the GoFundMe page to the actual text of the countersuit.
When I googled around checking up on this, I found news articles suggesting a different story.
Story B: Bell was the conservator Nichols chose because she had a falling-out with her son. Nichols’ friend Angelique Fawcette claims Nichols was still of sound mind when she appointed Bell, and that her son has been making the “mentally incapacitated” claims for years without a doctor’s verification while trying to move her into a nursing home against her wishes.
Also, allegedly, Johnson stopped letting friends visit her and tried to stop her doing activities she liked. Bell sued Johnson to stop him from taking conservatorship of his mother, allegedly acting on her wishes.
In the above article, Fawcette claims she and Nichols made the following interview as a precaution in case the situation deteriorated. Fawcette says she went public with it after the screaming argument out of concern for Nichols.
But, on the other hand, while that GoFundMe page is raising money for Johnson to countersue Bell, it was set up by Nichelle Nichols’ younger sister Marian Smothers, who has just gotten involved.
I do NOT know whose claims are true. I do not know which story to believe. I am not a lawyer or a judge or a legal expert. I’m just a fan trying to figure out whether I should donate to this GoFundMe or not.

Anyway I’m making a PSA for other Uhura fans who may see the GoFundMe link somewhere without knowing the context. ?
As expected, the GoFundMe had now gone viral both on Twitter and Tumblr.
For what it’s worth, fellow actors Chase Masterson and William Shatner also sided with Nichelle Nichols against her son gaining conservatorship of her, as reported here.
WARNING: includes distressing tape of Nichelle screaming in protest when her son takes her away against her wishes, after she says, “he is not the boss of me” and “get your hands off me.”
I think we owe it to Nichelle to listen to her wishes and her words.
So before you donate to that GoFundMe, please listen to Nichelle’s own stated wishes in the two videos above. Then click on the legal document linked to on the GoFundMe page to see what your money will actually be used for: a conservatorship battle to decide who has custody of her. Note that none of the money raised by the GoFundMe will go to Nichelle Nichols.
