Love her or hate her, Wendy Williams was once one of the queens of celebrity news and gossip.
Off the back of her successful radio show and hosting career, Wendy Williams earned
her own talk show, the Wendy Williams show that has ran 13 seasons strong.
But even a casual Wendy Watcher will tell you that the past few years have been rocky,
and Wendy’s personal life has become worthy of a slot on Hot Topics.
Let’s get into the weird world of wendy williams and some of the trouble she’s faced
the past few years.
In March of 2019, Wendy shocked her co-hosts by admitting she was currently living in a
sober living facility.
Wendy was always open about her struggles with addiction but hadn’t recently mentioned
she was struggling or had relapsed, so her revelation was surprising.
Wendy explained that after she was done taping her show and going to meetings, she would
return to the facility and was driven around by a sober coach.
She was welcomed and accepted by the others living there, saying her celebrity status
didn’t matter.
Wendy announced all of this after having previously been on hiatus for a couple months.
In her absence, guest hosts like Nick Cannon and Jerry O’Connell filled in for her.
Wendy stated that she was absent due to complications with Graves Disease and a fractured shoulder,
but many speculated that it was due either to problems in Wendy’s marriage or because
she relapsed.
Wendy’s family said she was focusing on her health and well-being, as she had fainted
on-air on Halloween of that previous year.
Upon her return, Wendy confirmed her ex husband, Kelvin (aka Kevin) Hunter fathered a child
outside their marriage earlier in the year.
For years, there had been rumors that Kevin was cheating, and Wendy unconvincingly shut
down the rumors each time.
On her show, Wendy finally confirmed the rumors and announced she would be filing for divorce
after 21 years of marriage.
Wendy unfortunately did not have a prenup, as she says she thought her marriage would
never end.
Kevin had also acted as her manager, and therefore had also been on Wendy’s payroll during
their marriage.
This wasn’t the first time Hunter had cheated on Wendy, however she said him fathering a
child outside the marriage was the ultimate dealbreaker.
According to Wendy, Kevin and Sharina had been together for 15 years, and she was mostly
aware of it.
About her decision to go to the sober facility, Wendy said, “I’d done my detective work.
I knew what was about to happen, and I was like, ‘Let me go someplace where you’re
not allowed to have the whole bottle of wine.
“When you see your husband’s mistress with a burgeoning belly and you’re a blabbermouth
on TV with a successful show, you know what’s about to happen.
I needed to go someplace quiet.”
Wendy again confirmed the baby news in an Interview with Sway in the morning, saying
Sharina had given birth in March and she wished her divorce would come sooner.
After her marriage had ended, Wendy often talked on her show about being a happily single
woman who was casually dating and was open to marrying again.
She was pictured with younger men and often spoke on her show about dates she went on.
Wendy told her co-hosts about a few casual relationships she had, and at one point, posted
about a new boyfriend.
The relationship was short-lived.
Throughout it all, Wendy constantly made jabs at her ex-husband on her show,made offhanded
comments as usual, and displayed odd behaviors that made fans start to whisper that Wendy
was on the decline.
In July of 2019, Wendy Williams announced that she had been diagnosed with lymphedema,
after months of her ankles being noticeably swollen.
The condition left Williams unable to wear heels, and she began to make the designer
sneakers she wore instead a feature on her show.
Throughout the fall of 2019 and much of 2020, fans began to worry Wendy relapsed.
Despite moving out of the sober house in April, clips of Wendy slurring her speech went viral,
and fans expressed concern.
Her eyes were noticeably vacant and she seemed unable to deliver information accurately.
During much of 2020, Wendy filmed her show from home, and she seemed look exhausted and
behaved bizzarely.
Manic Monday here we are (Wendy super cut)She cried often, including during one emotional
rant where she expressed her concern for frontline workers.
Though she never publicly admitted the cause of the slurring, social media speculated between
a relapse and a mental breakdown, or a combination of both.
Throughout the year, Wendy continued to include her co-hosts in on her dating life, and teased
she had a project coming that would answer a lot of the public’s questions about her
personal life.
Through it all, Wendy continued to poke her nose in other peoples’ lives and rain judgement
upon them.
Her own personal situation seemed like it didn’t make her any more sympathetic to
others.
The only apparent change seemed to be Wendy’s bitterness to those in happy marriages.
Wendy Williams always had a loving and joking relationship with her show’s DJ, DJ Boof.
They bonded over music and fashion, and Boof often accompanied Wendy to events in her “new
life” aka her life after divorce.
It came as a shock in the fall of 2020 when in person tapings of the show resumed and
Boof was absent.
He had been replaced by DJ Suss One.
Though Wendy never specifically said why Boof left the show, Boof made some implications
of his own.
He implied that his exit was due to some of the same concerns fans had aout Wendy’s
odd behavior, and the fact that she wasn’t taking care of herself.
Fans suggested Wendy’s spiraling behavior was probably why Boof left the show.
Boof confirmed by saying “Yup exactly and it will all come out.
Y’all have no idea what’s really going on and everyone there is afraid to speak up
because they don’t wanna lose their jobs.. this is going to play out bad..
I
feel sorry for the workers and victims.”
Boof never clarified this comment further, and never stated who Wendy’s victims were.
HIs allegations that Wendy’s camp was enabling her behavior sounded similar to concerns from
fans, wondering how Wendy could be allowed to record a show while appearing totally out
of it.
Online bloggers speculated that Wendy’s alcohol abuse led her to act inappropriately
toward DJ Boof, and that urged him to cut ties with Wendy as well.
In January of 2021, Wendy Williams premiered a biopic and a documentary on lifetime.
Despite her negative track record with biopics, Wendy promised fans hers would be raw and
real, and the accompanying documentary would be an unfiltered look behind the scenes into
Wendy’s career and her public struggles the past couple years.
Wendy revealed that in her childhood, she struggled with ED’S, and also talked about
her drug misuse that threatened to end not only her successful radio career, but also
her life.
The documentary Titled Wendy Williams: What a Mess!
Was intended to be a more honest look at some of the events the biopic embellished.
In her documentary, Williams mentioned her ex manager slash ex husband Kevin slowly began
to cut people out of her life.
Kevin was verbally abusive to Wendy, and his constant arguments with her and staff got
him banned from Wendy’s radio station.
Wendy, along with many others in her life during their marriage, claimed Kevin Hunter
was emotionally abusive.
Wendy recalled a time when she started a production meeting for the Wendy Williams show without
Kevin in attendance.
He usually attended every meeting but since he was running late, Wendy started without
him.
When Kevin arrived and found out the meeting proceeded without him, she shattered a glass
table.
Because of behaviors like this, many wondered whether the fractured shoulder Wendy suffered
from in 2019 could have been caused by Kevin.
Amidst conflicts in her professional life, Wendy’s personal life was still a mess.
In December of 2020, Wendy announced on her show that her mother Shirley passed away the
previous month.
She
and her mother had a close relationship, as her parents often visited tapings of the show,
and Wendy and her son Kevin Jr. often visited Wendy’s parents in Florida.
Wendy talked about her mother fondly in episodes and gave shoutouts to her parents on the show.
Amidst her mourning, Wendy found herself in a feud with her brother Tommy.
Tommy took to the Internet to criticize Wendy for not coming to their mother’s funeral.
He posted multiple videos to Youtube speaking ill about her and telling the world that even
wendy’s ex-husband attended the funeral that Wendy had allegedly skipped.
Wendy took to her show to address her brother’s antics and request he keep family matters
private and stop trying to stir up drama on the Internet.
Wendy attempted to shut down her brother’s chaotic behavior by insinuating that he was
gay on her TV show.
Wendy said “He’s pegging me to be a person that I am not.
Honey, you don’t want me to start pegging you for being the person that you are.”
She looked down at her dress and said “By the way, do you like my dress Tommy?
He would like a dress like this … You and your wife better get your life — before
I get it for you.
You don’t wanna talk about the things that I know about you for sure.”
Wendy moop Wendy admitted that she probably had more positive feelings towards her cheating
ex-husband than she did for her brother.
In September of 2021, it was announced that Wendy had gotten ill (she had covid) and had
been hospitalized.
Others on the Wendy Williams show staff quarantined and the official Instagram page stated the
season 13 premiere would be postponed until October 4th.
However, the day before, Wendy had been hospitalized for a psych evaluation.
Wendy had been struggling with her mental health for some time, and was admitted voluntarily.
An insider claimed that Wendy had been drinking daily, including during her last season of
the wendy williams show.
This would explain the slurred speech.
An inside source said, “It has been a very difficult time for Wendy.
She's a single woman with very few friends.
She lost her marriage, her mom, and is living alone.
There is a lot on her plate.’
Wendy was seen looking unwell as she returned from the hospital, and she continued to recover
at home and attempt to look after her mental health.
Wendy’s relationship with her son Kevin soured, and it was claimed kevin gave wendy
the ultimatum that either she get her life together, or he would not longer be part of
it.
Despite all this, The show maintained that Wendy’s absence was due to ongoing complications
with Graves disease.
Wendy’s lymphedema were also getting worse, and wendy was often seen in a wheelchair.
In November, a rumor circulated that Williams was suffering from early onset dementia, which
wendy watchers speculated could also be an explanation for her odd on air behavior.
Despite her ongoing absence for her show, her brother stated that he wasn’t aware
of any concerns regarding Wendy’s mental health.
Tommy said he and his father routinely checked up on Wendy and to their knowledge, Wendy’s
struggles were physical, not mental.
The Wendy Williams show eventually went on in Wendy’s absence and celebrity guest hosts
filled in.
The Rickey Smiley morning show reported Wendy had lost all blood flow and circulation in
her legs.
These claims were refuted when Wendy was seen walking out of a wellness center in December
of 2021.
Despite this relatively good news, rumors circulated that the Wendy Williams show was
soon to be cancelled.
Sherri Shepherd seemed a shoe-in for replacing Wendy, as she was a well-liked stand-in, and
she had previous daytime experience from hosting the View.
Wendy denied the rumors that she would be replaced.
Days before Christmas the Wendy Williams show announced the show’s return after the holidays
would be postponed until January of 2022, to protect the health of Wendy, staff, and
audiences.
The show was intended to resume with live episodes on January 10th and Sherri Shepherd
would host some episodes and celebrity guests would host other days as well.
The show officially announced Wendy Williams would not return at all to host in the early
part of 2022.
Regardless, Wendy said her health was on the mend and encouraged fans to look forward to
more “Wendy Stuff” in the coming year.
Still fans speculated that Wendy would continue to delay her return and would never end up
returning to the show.
Though Wendy Williams is a controversial figure, it’s hard to not have sympathy for her,
as she’s gone through alot in the past few years.
Some would say it’s karma for how terribly Williams has spoken about others, or that
her public shaming is just a taste of her own medicine.
Regardless, no one deserves to be abused physically, or mentally, and her husbands’ actions affect
the son they share, not just Wendy.
It is hypocritical that Wendy has been extremely vague and often dishonest about what’s been
going on in her private life, despite happily exposing others’ private business to the
public and making fun of it.
Hopefully, Wendy’s been humbled by the way her life appears to be turning out.
I don't believe she deserves this treatment, or to have health issues, but it is a great
lesson in not talking so badly about other people when she wasn’t much better off.
I hope Wendy doesn’t feel pressured to continue the show, because to be honest it’s been
declining in quality anyway since Wendy Williams started to deteriorate right before our eyes.
I don’t want the show continue without Wendy, because its just not the wendy williams show
without wendy williams.
I think Wendy should officially step away to focus on her own health, and take up a
career that’s less public and less stressful.
Wendy williams has already cemented her place in daytime television history, and i think
it's better that she ends on a high note- or at the very least doesn’t sink lower
than where she is now.
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who you want me to talk about in my next one.
Thanks for watching!