‘The Wendy Williams Show’ Ending On Friday After 13 Years
By Kristin Myers on June 14, 2022 at 11:30 AM EDT
“The Wendy Williams Show” will officially come to an end on Friday, as per Variety.
The 57-year-old talk show host Wendy Williams first started the show back in 2008. Before her big TV appearance, the Northeastern University grad was a radio host and DJ and quickly became known in New York as a shock jockette.
As Variety noted, the show has managed to survive for 13 seasons. However, the daytime talk show has been running all season without its host. It appears that things will be no different for the final episode and Williams will reportedly be absent for the finale. That being said, a video montage celebrating her successful television run will be played during the episode.
‘The Wendy Williams Show’ To End On June 17
A spokesperson for the daytime talk show told Variety, “The final original episode of ‘The Wendy Williams Show’ will air on Friday, June 17th with a video tribute to the iconic host. The series comes to an end after 13 successful years in syndication.”
Williams was absent from her show during the 2021-2022 season due to health-related issues. Williams has been open about her struggle with an auto-immune disorder called Graves’ disease, which leaves her with persistent health conditions that can be difficult to manage.
Several guest hosts and panelists have been called in to keep the show going in Williams’ absence. The most notable host is Sherri Shepherd, who will be hosting the final week and Friday’s final episode. Although there was talk of Shepherd taking over the show, it appears that “The Wendy Williams” show will be canceled to allow Shepherd to start her own nationally-syndicated talk show, which will be called “Sherri.”
Her new show will replace the time slot “The Wendy Williams Show” now occupies on Fox stations and local affiliates.
Wendy Williams Have Suffered Multiple Health Issues Over The Years
The “Think Like A Man” star has never been shy about letting her supporters know about the struggles she has been facing with her health. Over the past few years, she has been open with her fans about her health-related struggles relating to both Graves’ disease and lymphedema.
As Variety reported, Williams actually fainted on-air during a Halloween episode in 2017. Fortunately, she was able to get back up and continue the show. In 2019, she became emotional as she revealed to a live audience that she had been living in a sober house.
Not long after that, Williams filed for divorce from her husband, Kevin Hunter, who had been her longtime manager and one of the producers on her show. Williams was married to Bert Girigorie from 1994 to 1995 before she married Kevin Hunter in 1997. The two had one son: Kevin Hunter Jr.
Although fans know that Williams has been struggling with multiple health issues, there are a lot of concerns about her mental health as well.
Wendy Williams Placed Under Financial Guardianship In March 2022
Back in March, Williams was placed under financial guardianship and claimed that Wells Fargo had committed misconduct.
A statement from her publicist and attorney at the time said, “Wendy wants the world to know that she strenuously denies all allegations about her mental health and well-being.” Williams was vocal about her financial concerns on social media and even took to “Good Morning America” to say that she wants her money back.
As reported by Variety, Williams claimed that she only had two dollars to her name in an Instagram Live conversation with rapper Fat Joe last month.
Although Williams has said multiple times that she wants to return to her show, it seems unlikely to happen now that it has been canceled. That being said, it’s possible that Williams may still make a return to TV.
Last month, the co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury, Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus, told Variety that they would be open to working with Williams again.
“It doesn’t mean the next day, but we will put it together and figure it out,” Bernstein said at the time. “It’s not like we have a Plan B where we hit a button and it’s back in a week, but we do have the desire to be in business with her if she can come back and be healthy, and so does Fox.”
“Other than her health, she could have continued to keep doing it as long as she wanted. She was still getting a rating and she has a die-hard audience that turned it into a profitable show,” Marcus added. “We were protecting the business, while we waited for her. And at some point, we had to say, ‘We have a business to run and she’s not here.’ It was a hard call.”
