Media personality Wendy Williams is bringing her life story to TV screens. In addition to a dramatic film, Williams has also produced a feature-length documentary about her journey. The documentary, “Wendy Williams: What a Mess,” features Williams herself and several people in her life, including her sister and Charlamagne Tha God, speaking directly to the camera and revealing many of the behind-the-scenes moments and emotions that transformed Williams as a person.
In “What a Mess,” Williams speaks from her “bachelorette pad” in New York about her career and her tumultuous relationship with ex-husband and ex-manager Kevin Hunter.
“Kevin f*cked up,” Williams says while eating caviar. Williams’ sister, Wanda Williams, admitted that Williams says she believes Hunter’s infidelity was a sign that “God was punishing” her for her celebrity gossip and criticism of people.
The documentary depicts Williams as hiring a private detective to follow Hunter to investigate her suspicions of his cheating. Williams apparently learned from the investigation that Hunter purchased a home with his mistress and they lived less than 10 miles away from the home Williams shared with Hunter. Williams and Hunter’s relationship ended publicly in divorce in 2019 after Hunter fathered a child with the mistress.
Not only does Williams reveal what she thinks of her ex-husband, she also describes the “one-hit wonder” she accuses of raping her early in her career. Although she doesn’t drop his name in the movie, earlier this month she told the New York Daily News in an interview that the late R&B singer Sherrick was the rapist.
Ciera Payton, who plays the title role of Wendy in the accompanying biopic, recently talked to Atlanta Black Star about the role.
“Wendy, her story took me all the way there,” Payton said. “The world got to see the public fall out over the last three years. You get to get on social media or the internet and Google certain things here and there, but we don’t know what these people were like in their personal lives.”
Morocco Omari, who portrays Hunter, said he did not reach out to Hunter while preparing for the role. “This is Wendy’s movie, so it was her lens, her vantage point,” Omari told ABS. Payton added that she wanted people to be touched and inspired by Williams’ story, but also wanted people to be entertained. “That’s why we watch Wendy Williams,” Payton said. “She keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time and this is the movie format of that.”
Payton added that during these times she hopes viewers can “escape into a whole different world and be touched and laugh and have fun, but to also be like ‘if Wendy got through all of that, then I know I can get through all of this.’”
“Wendy Williams: The Movie” and “Wendy Williams: What a Mess” come to Lifetime on Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively.
