Wendy Williams stepped away from her daytime talk show in 2021, leaving many wondering where she’s been.
Media personality, talk show host, and 1990s shock jock Wendy Williams has been in the public eye for decades. Williams has held a career full of controversy but has been largely unseen for several years.
What's Wrong With Wendy Williams?
The Wendy Williams Show, which premiered in 2008, saw Williams discuss various pop culture topics and sit down with guests for 14 seasons. But starting around 2017, the cracks in her health began to show themselves.
At various points over the next several seasons of the chat program, Wendy Williams fainted on-air, and took extended periods of time off, necessitating that The Wendy Williams Show bring in several substitute guest hosts to fill her spot.
Eventually, Williams departed the series entirely, and the network brought in comedian, actress, and ex-The View host Sherri Shepherd to replace her full-time.
It was known that Wendy Williams was a longtime sufferer of Graves’ disease. She also battled a cocaine addiction for many years. But more recently, Williams’ health has taken a drastic turn for the worse.
In 2023, the announcement was made that Williams had been diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Both illnesses cause deterioration of the brain and a sharp decline in cognitive function.
Since that time, Williams has been placed under guardianship. In February, Lifetime aired a documentary entitled Where Is Wendy Williams?, which Williams’ guardian, attorney Sabrina Morrissey, tried to stop from being broadcast, claiming that the doc was “exploitative” (via People).
In addition to her many other health difficulties, Wendy Williams also has grappled with vertigo, lymphedema, and substance abuse issues.
In recent days, she was also spotted attending her son Kevin Hunter Jr.’s graduation ceremony at Florida International University. The 60-year-old was notably using a mobility scooter.
Why Is Wendy Williams Controversial?
Williams has made a great many very public controversial statements over the decades.
During her time as a radio host in the ‘90s, she routinely used homophobic slurs on-air and once took it upon herself to investigate the sexual orientation of an anonymous rapper.
In 2019, Wendy Williams took the side of R. Kelly over Kelly’s now-ex-wife Andrea Kelly who accused her then-husband of abuse. Kelly is currently serving a 31-year prison for charges including “coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal... activity” (via ICE)
On The Wendy Williams Show, she frequently came under fire for making inflammatory comments about other celebrities. She remarked that Beyonce “needs autotune” in 2012 (via VIBE), made light of the 2020 murder of therapist and model Amie Hardwick, and wished death upon Britney Spears in 2021.
It Is possible that many of these gaffes, particularly the modern examples, were partially a result of Williams’ illness. But this has not been confirmed by anyone affiliated with her.
