Wendy Williams has spent the majority of her career chatting about the latest happenings
in the entertainment world and beyond.
After garnering attention on her highly successful WBLS radio show, she become one of the most
popular TV hosts in all of daytime.
Fans of The Wendy Williams Show happily drink up all of the hot tea she pours — but with
all of the focus placed on the famous people she loves to rip into, many of her fans are
unaware of the sadness that surrounds the talk show maven's private life.
Behind the big attitude and the even bigger wigs stands a woman who has been through many
trials and tribulations.
This is the tragic real-life story of Wendy Williams.
"I've always had an ability to harness the lemonade in the middle of the sour lemons."
Fighting the shame
As a shock jock and one of the queens of daytime TV, Williams has made the nation thirsty for
more of her juicy gossip.
"Hello, this is the Hot Topics show, it's what we do."
But, sadly, she wasn't always living the dream, telling People,
"My life before 21 sucked."
As a young girl, she dealt with body image issues at school, and at home.
She told ABC News that her parents would criticize her, saying,
"I had a very tortured childhood, um, my parents."
"They fat shamed me."
She told People that she went on her first diet when she was in the first grade, saying,
"Tuna fish and mustard with yogurt on the side.
Weight was a big thing for me to overcome."
"I was tall and I was overweight, and I was reminded of that by my siblings and my parents
every single day."
She finally grew to love her body.
And with the family turmoil behind them, her parents are now her biggest fans.
A "functioning addict"
For ten years, Williams struggled with a drug addiction.
She revealed to NPR's Tell Me More,
"I wasn't addicted to alcohol or weed or pills or anything like that.
I was addicted to coke."
In a later interview with ET, Williams defined herself as a quote "functioning addict", admitting,
"I lost over a decade of my life, being hooked on coke."
With her addiction in the rear view mirror, the TV personality has found a way to give
back through her own organization: The Hunter Foundation's "Be Here" campaign, which helps
combat drug and substance abuse in various communities.
"We wanna create lasting solutions through legislation, support innovative treatments,
and just get people well.
It's a battle that can be won.
Take it from me"
Struggling with pregnancy
Once she and her husband, Kevin Hunter, decided to start a family, Williams hit a painful
roadblock.
She told People,
"There was a hiccup with a couple of miscarriages.
Life is hard on us women."
"21st century woman thinks she can do it all, but she can't.
I know because I'm one of those women."
She peeled back the layers surrounding her fertility struggles during an appearance on
American Masters, revealing,
"I fought tooth and nail to be a mother.
I suffered several miscarriages including two at five months.
That's when you have the clothes already picked out, the nursery is already painted.
They ask you do you want a funeral or do you want the cremation."
Her dreams of becoming a mother finally came true when she conceived her son Kevin Junior,
in 2000.
A painful discovery
What was supposed to be the most wonderful time in Williams' life turned to heartbreak,
according to VladTV, when she overheard:
"A late-night telephone call and some clandestine whispering."
— All between her husband, Hunter, and his mistress, about a month after Williams gave
birth to their son.
"I overheard some greasy talk from the next room… so you know I tipped and I crept and
I heard what I heard, and I was like wow, ok so this is how it's going down."
She says everyone has since healed from the situation, and her parents still love Hunter.
She also revealed how the affair strengthened their bond, but admitted,
"No, I'm not back to the girl I was before him, because when you get stung like that,
you never go back to who you were.
Only a fool does."
A scary diagnosis
Viewers were shocked when Williams passed out during her show's annual Halloween special.
"That was not a stunt.
I'm overheated in my costume, and I did pass out.
But you know what?
I'm a champ, and I'm back."
But, after taking a hiatus from shooting to tend to her health, Williams came clean about
her real diagnosis.
"You all, what I have, I have Grave's disease and thyroid disease and I was diagnosed 19
years ago."
She admitted to People, that she had skipped a doctor's appointment to attend a business
meeting, putting her health in danger.
She said,
"I love doing the show, but I love me more.
So I'm going to take care of me, so I can be there for them."