Wendy Williams

Two weeks after graduating from Northeastern, Williams began her career as a disc jockey working for the small, calypso and reggae-oriented WVIS in Frederiksted, U.S. Virgin Islands,[14][17][18] but disliked the role because she did not learn as much about radio from her colleagues as she expected.[15] Due to low pay and isolation from her family, Williams began sending resumes and demo tapes of herself to other radio stations.[14][15] She left WVIS after eight months and obtained a position at Washington, D.C.'s WOL, but found its oldies radio format incompatible with her personality.[15][18] Williams continued sending tapes to other stations and on November 1, 1987, began as a weekend fill-in on New York City's WQHT.[15] After the urban contemporary station hired her full-time to work overnight shifts, she left WOL.[4][15]

Williams was fired from WQHT after two years[19] and briefly worked overnight shifts at WPLJ before being hired by WRKS.[20] Initially working as a fill-in, WRKS gave Williams a non-compete clause and permanent morning position in May 1990 after WBLS began poaching its employees.[17][21] She joined Jeff Foxx and Spider Webb as part of the station's "Wake-Up Club".[8][21] There, Williams began gossiping about rappers and celebrities during a segment called "Dish the Dirt". Those she talked about, such as Bill Cosby and Russell Simmons, called the station and unsuccessfully demanded she be fired.[8] As she grew into a popular radio personality, WRKS moved Williams to host the evening drive time slot in April 1991.[8][22] By 1993, she was the highest-rated host in her time slot in the New York City market[11][19] and received a Billboard Radio Award for R&B Major Market Radio Air Personality of the Year.[23] Williams co-hosted American Urban Radio Networks' syndicated Top 30 USA song countdown program in 1993 and USA Music Magazine in 1994.[24][25]

By mid-1994, WRKS had suffered a ratings decline amid competition from hip hop-oriented WQHT, which was owned by Emmis Broadcasting. In an effort to reverse the trend, WRKS moved Williams back to mornings on September 26, 1994, where she hosted a program titled "Wendy and Company".[26][27] However, Emmis purchased WRKS less than three months later and transferred Williams to WQHT, where she began hosting the evening drive time slot on December 12, 1994. As WRKS was reformatted into an urban adult contemporary outlet geared toward older audiences, they believed Williams would better reflect WQHT's younger demographic.[27][28]

She was fired from Hot 97 in 1998.[6] Williams was hired by a Philadelphia urban station, WUSL ("Power 99FM"). Her husband, Kevin Hunter, became her agent.[6] She was very open about her personal life on air, discussing her miscarriages, breast enhancement surgery,[6] and former drug addiction.[29] She helped the station move from 14th place in the ratings to 2nd.[6]

Williams in 2005

In 2001, Williams returned to the New York airwaves when WBLS hired her full-time for a syndicated 2–6 p.m. time slot. Williams' friend, MC Spice of Boston, offered his voiceover services to the show, often adding short rap verses tailored specifically for Williams' show. The New York Times stated that her "show works best when its elements – confessional paired with snarkiness – are conflated".[30] By 2008, she was syndicated in Redondo Beach, California; Shreveport, Louisiana; Wilmington, Delaware; Toledo, Ohio; Columbia, South Carolina; Emporia, Virginia; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Tyler, Texas; and Alexandria, Louisiana, among other markets. Williams left her radio show in 2009 to focus on her television program and spend more time with her family.

In 2008, Debmar-Mercury offered Williams a six-week television trial of her own talk show. A syndicated daytime talk show hosted by Williams titled Wendy's World was poised to debut in fall 1997, but never aired.[31] On July 14, 2008, Williams debuted her daytime talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, in four cities during the summer of 2008. During the tryout, The New York Times remarked that the show created a "breakthrough in daytime" by introducing the genre of the "backtalk show".[32] After a successful run, Fox signed a deal with Debmar-Mercury to broadcast the show nationally on their stations beginning in July 2009. In addition, BET picked up cable rights to broadcast the show at night. In 2010, BET started airing the show internationally in 54 countries through BET International.[33] The show attracts 2.4 million daily viewers on average, with Williams trading off daily with Ellen DeGeneres as the number one female host on daytime television.[34]

Williams on The Wendy Williams Show in 2011

Williams hosted a game show for GSN called Love Triangle (2011) for which she and her husband Kevin Hunter served as executive producers.[35] Williams played a judge on the Lifetime network show Drop Dead Diva (2011) and served as a guest judge on The Face (2013).[36] Williams was paired with Tony Dovolani as a contestant on the twelfth season of Dancing with the Stars; she was eliminated second. Williams later alleged the show's producers portrayed her as an angry black woman, a racial stereotype.[37] Williams appeared in the film adaptation of Steve Harvey's book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, titled Think Like a Man (2012), and its sequel, Think Like a Man Too (2014). In 2012, it was announced Williams would enter into a "production alliance" with producers Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones to create movies and television shows aimed at multicultural audiences.[38][39] These projects will appear under the heading "Wendy Williams presents"[39] and their first project will be VH1 adaptation of a Star Jones novel.[38]

In February 2013, it was announced that Williams and her husband and manager, Kevin, were launching a reality television production company, Wendy Williams Productions.[40] that will produce unscripted content, including reality television and game shows.[41] Williams was an executive producer on the show Celebrities Undercover (2014).[36] Williams also executive produced a biopic for Lifetime, Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, which premiered on November 15, 2014.[42] The film attracted controversy due to its casting and depiction of Aaliyah's relationship with R. Kelly.[43] and received predominantly negative reviews from critics.[44] In September 2015, the documentary series Death By Gossip with Wendy Williams premiered on the Investigation Discovery channel, both hosted and produced by Williams.[45] In 2013, Williams was cast to play the role of Matron "Mama" Morton on the Broadway musical Chicago.[46][47] She began her tenure on July 2[48] and finished her seven-week run on August 11, 2013. Her preparations for the musical were documented in the TV Guide docuseries Wendy Williams: How You Doin', Broadway?!,[49] which was produced by her own production company, Wendy Williams Productions.[50]

Williams in 2019

Williams had not missed an episode of her talk show until February 2018, when she took one week off; however, on February 21, 2018, Williams announced that her show would be on three weeks' hiatus due to her complications with Graves' disease and hyperthyroidism.[51] In January 2019, a statement from the Williams Hunter family revealed that Williams had been hospitalized due to complications from Graves' disease and that her return to the show would be delayed indefinitely as a result.[52] Guest hosts such as Nick Cannon filled in for Wendy during her absence; she returned on March 4, 2019.[53] In early March 2020, the show discontinued its live audience for two tapings due to the coronavirus pandemic; Williams's staff filled in the seats.[54] Shortly thereafter, production on the show was halted.[55] The show reemerged as The Wendy Williams Show @ Home, broadcast through video chat from Williams's apartment, and continuing through May 15, when production was halted again due to a flare in Williams's Graves disease.[56][57] In July 2020, Williams announced that her show would be returning to live broadcasting in-studio on September 21, 2020.[58] In 2020, Williams competed on the fourth season of The Masked Singer as "Lips" where she was mostly sitting due to the weight of the costume. She performed the song "Native New Yorker" by Odyssey and was the first member of Group C to be eliminated and unmasked after her first appearance. Williams signed a deal with the US network Lifetime for a documentary, Wendy Williams: What a Mess! and a TV movie, Wendy Williams: The Movie based on her life.[59]

Williams is the author of three nonfiction books. She released an autobiography co-written with New York Daily News journalist Karen Hunter in August 2003 titled Wendy's Got the Heat. It focuses on her life, including childhood troubles, drug addiction, and marriages.[60][61] Published by Atria, it debuted at number nine on The New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction.[62] The autobiography was reprinted in paperback in August 2004,[63] a month before the debut of Williams' second book, The Wendy Williams Experience, which contains celebrity gossip and interviews.[64][65] In May 2013, Williams released an advice book, Ask Wendy.[66] Over the years, Williams wrote columns for Honey and Life & Style magazines.[66][67]

Williams has also written several fiction books, including a trilogy about the life and career of radio shock jock Ritz Harper. She co-authored the first two novels, Drama Is Her Middle Name (2006) and Is the Bitch Dead, or What? (2007), with Hunter.[68][69][70] Zondra Hughes co-wrote the third installment Ritz Harper Goes to Hollywood! (2009).[71][72] Media outlets considered Ritz Harper similar to Williams.[73][74] In 2014, Williams released a romance novel, Hold Me in Contempt.[75] She said it was co-authored with an English professor ghostwriter.[76]

Williams interviewed Blu Cantrell in 2003; the conversation was released as a DVD on the singer's album Bittersweet.[17] Williams and Virgin Records released a compilation album, Wendy Williams Brings the Heat: Volume 1, in June 2005 featuring various rap acts, including M.O.P., Jadakiss, and Young Jeezy.[77] It sold 29,000 copies by November of that year according to Nielsen SoundScan.[78]

In 2014, Lipshtick called Williams to participate in their first all-female-based comedy series at the Venetian in Las Vegas. Williams made her sold-out comedy debut on July 11, 2014.[2] Williams' comedy tour was called "The Sit-down Comedy Tour". Williams returned to Lipshtick on October 31, 2014, and November 1, 2014, after she made a sold-out debut in July.[79] Williams hosted her "How You Laughin'" Comedy Series at NJPAC on November 15, 2014, featuring Luenell, Jonathan Martin, Pat Brown, Hadiyah Robinson, and Meme Simpson.[80] In 2015, Williams announced a 12-city comedy tour called "The Wendy Williams Sit Down Tour: Too Real For Stand-Up."[81]

While working for WRKS, Williams was a spokesperson for a hip-hop clothing brand.[11] In 2006, she became a spokesperson for George Veselles champagne and Alizé liquers.[17] Williams debuted a jewelry and shoe line on shopping channel QVC called "Adorn" in 2012.[82][83] The shoe manufacturer's lawyer alleged she never paid the production cost.[84] In 2013, Williams released a wig collection to online retailers.[85] She sold a self-titled clothing line in 2015 on shopping channel HSN and continued the partnership the following year by releasing shoe and winter clothing collections.[86][87][88]

Williams has had breast implants since 1994 and has had other cosmetic procedures such as liposuction and botox.[95][130] Williams has been open about her cocaine addiction in the late 1980s and early 1990s, for which she never received treatment.[131][132] Since fainting on her talk show in October 2017 due to dehydration, she has shared other health issues publicly.[132][133] In February 2018, Williams disclosed that she has Graves' disease which causes hyperthyroidism,[134] conditions she was diagnosed with nearly two decades prior.[135] Due to the increased pressure behind her eyes, they sometimes have a pronounced appearance.[134] Williams wears wigs in public because her thyroid condition thins her natural hair.[8] She accidentally fractured her shoulder in December 2018.[132]

In March 2019, Williams said she had been living in a sober house "for some time"[132] and that she has vertigo.[136] Later that year, Williams revealed she had been diagnosed with lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in her ankles.[137] During the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2021, Williams tested positive for a breakthrough infection of the disease.[138] In early 2022, Williams's bank, Wells Fargo, froze her accounts and requested a New York Supreme Court hearing to determine whether her health conditions render her incapacitated and in need of a guardianship. Her attorney disputes these notions and says Williams employs "holistic health professionals".[125]

In 2005, Williams funded a $1,000 scholarship for a black female high school student who sought to major in communications at college.[139] Subsequent recipients in 2006 and 2007 also received internships at WBLS.[140][141] She led an effort to donate money and school supplies to Asbury Park Middle School in 2009.[142] Williams and her husband created The Hunter Foundation in 2014, a non-profit organization that funded anti-poverty programs and provided resources to people as they transitioned from drug addiction to recovery.[143][144] The foundation closed in May 2019 amid Williams's divorce.[143] In September of that year, Williams became an ambassador and honorary board member of the Lymphatic Education & Research Network.[145]

• Williams, Wendy; Hunter, Karen (2003). Wendy's Got the Heat (1st ed.). New York City: Atria Books. ISBN 0-7434-7021-4.
• Williams, Wendy; Hunter, Karen (2004). The Wendy Williams Experience (1st ed.). New York City: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94837-6.
• Williams, Wendy (2013). Ask Wendy (1st ed.). New York City: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0-06-226838-9.

• Williams, Wendy; Hunter, Karen (2006). Drama Is Her Middle Name (1st ed.). New York City: Harlem Moon. ISBN 978-0-7394-7004-6.
• Williams, Wendy; Hunter, Karen (2007). Is the Bitch Dead, or What? (1st ed.). New York City: Harlem Moon. ISBN 978-0-7679-2487-0.
• Williams, Wendy; Hughes, Zondra (2009). Ritz Harper Goes to Hollywood! (1st ed.). New York City: Pocket Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-9288-4.
• Williams, Wendy (2014). Hold Me in Contempt (1st ed.). New York City: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0-06-226841-9.