Wendy Williams has hosted her controversial self-titled syndicated daytime talk show since 2008, and she’s been known to stir up drama with celebrities
Wendy Williams is officially ending her talk show after nearly 14 years, PEOPLE has confirmed.
“The final original episode of The Wendy Williams Show will air on Friday, June 17th, with a video tribute to the iconic host,” a spokesperson for the show told PEOPLE told after first exclusively sharing the news with Variety. “The series comes to an end after 13 successful years in syndication.”
Williams, 57, has been fighting for her health for quite some time, which has impacted the workflow of her eponymous talk show.
A source told PEOPLE in February: “Wendy won’t be returning to the show for the rest of this season” — though one month later, William told Good Morning America about her plan to return.
“I’m going to be back on the Wendy show,” she said in March. “Bigger and brighter than ever.”
In October 2021 ahead of the talk show’s 13th season premiere, Williams’ breakthrough COVID-19 case and her ongoing health issues tied to Graves’ disease delayed its initial return. The premiere episode was delayed once more to Oct. 18 despite Williams’ recovery from COVID-19.
“Her healing is going slower than everyone had hoped. She continues to deal with a number of medical issues, including Graves’ disease, and she and her team are taking it one day at a time,” the source said.
A former New York radio DJ and “shock jockette”, she’s been known to bush some buttons with her segment Hot Topics. In recent years, she’s made controversial statements about Dionne Warwick, Joaquin Phoenix and Meghan Markle.
Williams previously went on hiatus from the show in March 2018 and again in May 2020, due to complications with her Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism.
“It came from me neglecting my six month endocrinology appointment,” she told PEOPLE in 2018. “I have Graves’ disease and hyperthyroid. If you have one you don’t necessarily have to have the other, but I have both, and I was diagnosed with both 19 years ago.”
She also took a six-week break in early 2019, after fracturing her shoulder. She later revealed that she was quietly focusing on her sobriety during the leave of absence. A few weeks later, she filed for divorce from husband of 22 years Kevin Hunter, amid rumors he’d fathered a child with another woman.
A spokesperson for the show confirmed to PEOPLE at the time that she had removed her then-husband as an executive producer, shortly after filing for divorce. He held the title since the show premiered 13 years ago, and they shared her company Wendy Williams Productions.
Williams’ show was one of the first to return to production in September 2020, after Hollywood went into lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The TV personality was recently the subject of a self-titled Lifetime biopic and the network’s documentary Wendy Williams: What a Mess!
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