Wendy Williams, a household name in the entertainment industry, has recently made new headlines for herself. Born in Asbury Park, NJ, in 1964, she has been an influential figure in transcending radio and television broadcasting formats since 1989, in New York. From her controversial takes on the radio, she often ruffled feathers around her continuing to challenge the practices of traditional media, becoming one of the most well-known TV personalities. Although she’s been continuously in the public eye for her talk shows, she’s more recently been trending due to her shocking diagnosis of dementia.
From the time she was young, her family described her as “a happy, energetic, talkative little girl” (Where is Wendy Williams, Lifetime Documentary). She began her career at an on-air station in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands before eventually moving to New York City. There, she furthered her career by playing popular 90’s hip-hop and conducting controversial interviews with music artists. She was labeled as controversial because of notoriously reading off-script and voicing her opinions on air during segments. This new method of interviewing cost Williams her job, so she moved to Philadelphia before returning to the Big Apple to produce The Wendy Williams Experience on 107.5 WBLS radio station. There, she achieved success, receiving a full-time position, and achieved some of the highest rankings at WBLS.
In 2008, Williams debuted her in-person experience, The Wendy Williams Show. Here, she interviewed various celebrities, gossiped, and answered any questions from viewers about their problems. When the show hit the TV, Americans became obsessed with Williams, and Fox picked up the series in 2009. Fans loved her unfiltered opinion on her segment “The Hot Topics,” where she would discuss recent gossip headlines with gusto.
As for her health, Williams has dealt with a variety of illnesses throughout the years, during her time on television. She opened up about her cocaine addiction to Entertainment Tonight in 2018. She recalls, “I was a functioning addict though. I report to work on time, and I’d walk in and all my co-workers, including my bosses, would know but since I would have my headphones on and walk in the studio [they] wouldn’t fire me because I was making ratings”. She also noted that she was grateful she was able to quit so easily, mentioning how “I guess I have God to thank for that” (Us Weekly).
In 2018, viewers of The Wendy Williams Show spread concern for her health after she was seen slurring her speech on air. Williams acknowledged her “less than stellar performance” (US Weekly) was due to pain medication as a product of a shoulder fracture earlier that year. Before then, she announced her diagnosis of Graves Disease and hyperthyroidism. This disease causes an overactive thyroid with a slew of effects, such as excessive tiredness, irritability, swelling, muscle weakness, and more. Later, she confirmed to fans that she had been living in a sober house in 2019, strictly driving to and from work as her only privilege, with her team escorting her to work at The Wendy Williams Show. She explained that she had never received treatment for her cocaine addiction, and that was why she was at the sober house.
In recent years, Williams has been heavily detached from the public eye with the cancellation of her show in 2022. In late 2021, she took time off from the program, due to her struggle with Graves’ disease. In late 2022, she was still yet to return to her show and had a variety of alternate TV personalities step in to take her place. The more time off she took, the more her ratings went down, and producers decided to cancel her fourteen-year run.
In the 2024 documentary Where’s Wendy Williams, the media chronicled a current day in Williams’s life, where she is often found in a hazy mental state and is seen getting aggressive with her staff at various times of the day. Her son, Kevin Hunter Jr. expressed his concern in the documentary, stating “my mom has done a great job making it seem like everything is OK always, but in reality, there’s something wrong going on” (Wendy Williams: What a Mess). In late February, Williams was diagnosed with alcoholism, dementia, and aphasia, after a two-year absence from the media.
While doctors explained Williams’ diagnosis and its seriousness, many fans still have hope that she can get stronger and hopefully return to some sense of normalcy. The works of Williams extend over many years, and while this diagnosis is upsetting, she still has a large fan base praying for a potential recovery.
