To say Wendy Williams had an eventful 2019 might be the biggest understatement of the year. Because just six months ago, she filed for divorce from her ex Kevin Hunter, and now she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The ceremony took place on Thursday in Hollywood, where Williams addressed the crowd and talked about the year she’s had.
“The elephant in the room is that I’ve been having a very, very tough year, but slowly but surely I’m climbing out of the pit, and this is one of those monumental days that makes me say, you know, if you don’t believe in yourself who will believe in you?” she stated. “Sometimes life is a very lonely path and you’ve got to make some hard decisions.”
She also thanked those who tune into “The Wendy Williams Show,” which reportedly draws 1.6 million viewers each episode.
“When you listened on the radio, I told you I love you for listening, and now I tell you I love you for watching,” she said,
Williams started in radio as a student at Northeastern University, then got a gig in New York City. And through her brash, in-your-face delivery style, she became a star with her show “The Wendy Williams Experience.”
“The Wendy Williams Show” began in July 2008, and it recently got renewed through 2022.
Before the New Jersey native’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony, she spoke to Variety about what makes her different from all the other talk show hosts.
“Everyone else on the show came from Oprah, Sally Jesse Raphael, Maury, Ricki Lake,” she explained. “I was the only one who had never done TV, yet I was the star of the show. I’m live. I’m clumsy. I only know how to be me.”
“If you want a polished interview and polished journalism, then you’re watching the wrong show,” added Williams. “If you want a good time, you better get into ‘Wendy,’ because you never know what’s going to happen. I don’t know what’s going to happen either — I passed out on TV and was revived during commercial break.”
Williams is referring to passing out on-air during a 2017 Halloween episode when she was dressed up like the Statue of Liberty.
She also spoke about entering a sober facility earlier this year, around the time it was rumored that Hunter fathered a lovechild with his decade-long mistress Sharina Hudson.
“The control room, I’m sure, was going crazy,” Williams said about the day she talked about the sober house. “I’m looking around the room, all the cameramen had tears. To me, that was not a big revelation. That was another day in a successful talk show done by the realest here.”
