The senior executives of “The Wendy Williams Show” reportedly questioned the host’s sobriety “at least 25” times before the star was shocked by the show’s sudden cancellation, according to staff members who often discovered concealed bottles of alcohol about the set.
Wendy Williams, a 58-year-old daytime TV anchor, is known for delving deeply into celebrity gossip and drama. However, the host has had a difficult few years, dealing with addiction, a cheating spouse, divorce, and the loss of her programme.
But it has now come to light that Wendy’s health often required staff members to make hasty decisions just before the programme went live on air, despite Wendy’s assurances that she was “fine.”
According to insiders, alcohol bottles were discovered in secret locations across the studio during her gradual collapse.
Wendy’s problems started in 2017, when DailyMail.com exposed her husband Hunter’s 10-year romance with masseuse Sharina Hudson in a ground-breaking exposé.
The celebrity claimed in December 2018 that she had hired a private detective to spy on her husband, whom she felt was still seeing his Hudson.
Then, in 2019, DailyMail.com reported that Wendy was spending the night in a Long Island City, New York, private facility managed by the Pure Recovery Network.
When she shattered her shoulder during a fight with her unfaithful husband Hunter, she descended into a melancholy that was driven by booze and pills.
In 2020, Wendy and Hunter divorced, and Hunter was spotted leaving their New Jersey house.
Williams took a leave of absence from her daytime talk programme in September 2021 owing to different health concerns.
It was revealed in January that Sherri Shepherd, a regular guest on The Wendy Williams Program, will host a new talk show in the time slot.
Williams apparently watched an ad as the last episode’s date in June 2022 drew near and was horrified to learn that her own show was being cancelled.
When season 12 ended in July 2021, Williams filmed her final episode. She was diagnosed with a “breakthrough” case of COVID-19 in September of last year, according to the programme, which caused production on the current season to be postponed.
Prior to 2017, when she collapsed during a broadcast and had a three-week absence, Williams’ health had not interfered with her career as a TV personality. Williams claimed in 2018 that she had received a diagnosis of Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the thyroid, years earlier.
She has been candid about her past, claiming that her long-term usage of cocaine, which started in college, turned her into a “functional addict” until she gave the drug up.
However, a sad Williams said that she was living “in a sober home” and had a 24-hour sobriety counsellor on a March 2019 edition of her programme. She did not provide a reason.
The Hollywood Reporter was informed by sources that Williams was disintegrating behind the scenes.
One source for the programme claims, “Everyone on the staff and crew observed all sorts of horrors.”
Insiders said that on “at least 25” different instances, producers sent preshow text messages to corporate executives casting doubt on Williams’ sobriety.
The decision to go live at 10 a.m. would therefore need to be made very quickly, according to those people, and was often made more difficult by Williams’ repeated assurances that she was “fine.”
Employees would “discover bottles [of booze] up in the ceiling tiles and other bizarre locations in the workplace,” according to an another source.
Debmar-Mercury determined in February 2022 that The Wendy Williams Program would terminate after its 13th season and that a new show from Shepherd would take its place in the autumn.
Williams was referred to in the announcement as a “genuine icon” while Shepherd was complimented as “a natural.”
Later that day, a statement on Williams’ behalf said that the departing host “understands” and is “very thankful to Debmar-Mercury.”
Williams replied: “Mr. Bragman: Although I appreciate your worries and respect you enormously, I have not allowed you to make any remarks on my behalf about my position with Debmar-Mercury.” But a few hours later, Williams had changed her mind.
Williams didn’t contact the senior executives until late February or early March, when she contacted to ask about reports that her programme was being cancelled.
We had to make a choice since we hadn’t heard from you, I said.
We should have made a choice in November, but we postponed it until January or February, at which point Bernstein recalls that it was “Make a decision or lose the time period.” ‘ Well, what’s going to broadcast at ten o’clock, she asked? Can I go on at 11? she asked after I informed her that Sherri would be on at 10 o’clock.
We’d love to work with you, and there are many options and potential customers, but you need to return and let us know that everything is well. You can’t simply phone and say, “I’m ready,” after nine months.
Williams caught wind of the cancellation of her programme in a Fox ad the day before the last performance.
She phoned me and said, “Wait a second, what do you mean it’s been cancelled? What are you referring to?
She is thinking, “I’ll be ready in a week and I’m coming to shoot,” regardless of how many people could have informed her — you could have told her, I could have told her,” he claims. Even though everything was falling apart in before of her eyes, for her it sort of occurred all of a sudden.
When Wendy passed out live on camera during a talk show filming in October 2017, the public immediately became alarmed.
In early 2018, she informed her audience that she had been diagnosed with Graves’ illness.
“My thyroid has been completely out of whack.” I get the impression that birds are circling my head. High all the time. but not too high,” she said. “My doctor prescribed—are you prepared?” I have three weeks off. I was furious. Really, encore performances?
Wendy also disclosed that she received a lymphedema diagnosis in 2019.
She added on her programme, “It’s not going to kill me, but I do have a machine – and how can you speak about the swelling of it all.” I’ve got everything under control, and at least I have this machine if [the swelling in] my feet and lower things never completely goes down.
Wendy talked about the immune system illness in 2018 to PEOPLE.
I’m in a much better mood than I was a few months ago. The only way I can express it is that I had a storm raging in my body at the moment,’ she said.
“I skipped my six-month endocrinology checkup,” I said. I have hyperthyroidism and Graves’ disease. Although having one does not always mean having the other, Wendy remarked, “I have both, and I was diagnosed with both 19 years ago.” Wendy has had a rough few years, including dealing with addiction, an unfaithful spouse, and divorce.
When Wendy fractured her shoulder during a confrontation with her cheating husband Kevin Hunter, she entered a state of alcohol and medication-fueled depression and spent the night at a private facility run by the Pure Recovery Network in Long Island City, New York.
On her show, she broke down in tears and confessed that she had been residing at the sober residence and attending meetings all over New York City.
In December 2018, Wendy hired a private eye to spy on her husband, who she suspected was still having an affair with his mistress Sharina Hudson. This is when Wendy’s problems started.
A DailyMail.com exposé in 2017 that exposed Hudson’s ten-year romance with Wendy’s husband put her in the spotlight.
The TV presenter questioned Hunter and demanded to know why he was still visiting the massage therapist after being informed that the covert affair was still very much active. She sustained a shoulder injury at that point.
Finally, in 2020, Wendy and Hunter divorced, and Hunter was later spotted leaving their New Jersey house.
Hunter filed a complaint for $7 million earlier this year alleging wrongful termination against the TV production firm of The Wendy Williams Show.
According to the civil action filed in federal court in New York City on Tuesday, executive producer Hunter, 49, was wrongfully let go by Debmar-Mercury because of his marital relationship with the show’s presenter.
Williams, 57, filed for divorce from Hunter in April 2019 on the grounds of irreconcilable differences after the birth of his kid with his lover Sharina Hudson in March 2019.
Hunter was a big part of the Wendy William Show’s popularity, and once he departed, everything looked to fall apart. According to NYC’s human rights regulations, Mr. Hunter was wrongfully fired for no other reason than that he was married to Wendy, according to his lawyer Abe George, who spoke to DailyMail
According to Hunter’s attorney, “This action aims to pay Mr. Hunter for the sweat equity that he invested in the programme and that Debmar-Mercury will continue to benefit from even in their new reincarnation as the Wendy Williams Show.”
Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus, the co-founders of Debmar-Mercury, were named as defendants in the action, which called for a jury trial.
According to court records, Hunter requested a monetary judgement of at least $7 million as well as punitive damages, lost income, and legal costs.
The lawsuit claimed that Hunter, who has been an executive producer of The Wendy Williams Show since 2007, was involved in the branding of the programme and helped conceptualise “the wildly popular segments “Hot Topics,” “Shoe Came,” and “Hot Seat” segments of the programme.”
According to the lawsuit, Hunter was informed by Bernstein that he had been fired a week after receiving written notice that Williams had filed for divorce on April 11, 2019.
The complaint claimed that the dismissal of the plaintiff “was solely based upon Plaintiff’s marital status and his imminent divorce from the host of the Show, disregarding all of the efforts that Plaintiff made to make the Show successful.”