As Wendy Williams continues her stint in the hospital while she recovers from complications from Graves disease, new details have come to light about her past health issues and her husband’s reported abusive past.
Various past employees and friends of Williams’ have spoken to Page Six. They say even before the host fainted live on-air in 2017 — which led her to come clean about her thyroid-related autoimmune disorder — and before her slurred speech and broken arm led her to take an extended hiatus from her show in December, there have been moments that have troubled staffers.
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 09: (L-R) Wendy Williams, Hunter Kevin and Carlos Narcisse attend the “Ask Wendy” Book Release Party at Pink Elephant on May 9, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
Employees of her show said health-related things began bubbling to the surface beginning in the 2014-2015 season of “The Wendy Williams Show.”
Detailing taping two shows on Thursdays, a former producer explained how those days would especially cause concern.
“On those days we would tape one show live, and then there’d be a break and we would tape another show to air on Friday,” the ex-TV producer disclosed. “Sometimes [Wendy] would be in her dressing room, doing whatever she does between shows, and her behavior for the second show would seem erratic. It started happening more and more frequently … trailing off mid-sentence, not finishing her thoughts.
“There were times when you would be briefing her … and you would say, ‘What’s going on with her? She’s not present,’” the former worker said.
Williams blamed her on-air fainting spell on dehydration. Four months later, she told her studio audience she suffers from Graves disease and would be taking off from the show for three weeks. But ex-staffers point to her past cocaine and alcohol abuse as a reason for the demons that now haunt her.
“Wendy does everything really hard,” said someone who used to work “The Wendy Williams Experience,” Williams’ national radio show that aired from 2002 to 2009. During those days, the employee said, “If she’s drinking, it’s bottles and bottles.”
Then, there are reports of her husband’s abuse, which a former intern said they’d heard when Kevin Hunter showed up to the station.
“She would hide in the bathroom and tell me to knock on the door when he left the office so she wouldn’t have to see him,” the intern said, noting it was common for Hunter
to take his wife inside a private room and for employees to hear them arguing.
“You’d hear slaps or some type of tussling going on,” the intern said.
Adding to his estranged mother’s claims of physical abuse against Williams, insiders said Hunter’s temper could lead to a violent streak.
During a night out at a club in 2007, an associate said they saw Hunter become combative toward his wife. When the couple left the venue, an ex-friend said they saw Hunter smack Williams in the back seat of the car.
“There was blood everywhere,” the former pal said. They added when they arrived at a parking garage, “Hunter grabbed [Williams] and pulled her into the bathroom. The parking attendant called the police.”
Charges were not filed, however, Hunter’s abuse toward Williams has since shown up in legal filings. During Nicole Spense’s time working on “The Wendy Williams Experience” from 2004 to 2008, she said Hunter sexually harassed her and produced a “hostile work environment.”
She also claimed to see Hunter physically assault the radio host.
“In one instance, Mr. Hunter stormed into the studio, demanded that other employees leave and openly physically abused Ms. Williams, pinning her against the wall with his hand around her neck, choking her while repeatedly pounding his fist into the wall directly by her head,” the June 2008 lawsuit alleged.
Apparently, the case was settled on Oct. 22, 2008.
By the time Williams’ radio show ended and her talk show began in 2009, it seems Hunter’s violence toward her was no longer made public. Those who worked on the “Wendy Williams Show” did not say they saw physical abuse but noted Hunter would often make fun of his wife.
“At one point she became vegan-esque,” the former producer said. “Kevin would berate her if she ate something that was not on their eating plan. He’d scream, ‘Don’t be a fat ass!’”
Additionally, he controlled who she spent time around. He fired a stylist with whom Williams got close. Plus, there have been ongoing reports surrounding Hunter’s decade-long affair with Sharina Hudson. He was recently reported to have impregnated his mistress, too. Williams’ representatives demanded the website that published that story retract it and guest host Nick Cannon affirmed that all is well with the family.
However, Wiliams’ fans have remained unconvinced about Cannon’s message from Williams.
“It was all good until he mentioned Kevin and the passion still there! When will these lies stop! Damn it Wendy u can’t be this weak! Leave his cheating abusive a$$”
“As soon as Big Kev was mentioned that was it for me…what a load of BS…!!! Nick dude why you lying…???!!!🙄😡😬👎”
