10 Wendy Williams Moments We Hope Her Lifetime Biopic Covers (VIDEO)
How you doin’, Lifetime?
Wendy Williams, host of daytime talker The Wendy Williams Show, is getting the TV biopic treatment on the women-centric network on January 30 with Wendy Williams: The Movie. The “authorized” story, which stars Ciera Payton (The Oval, She’s Gotta Have It), has the “Queen of Gossip” herself on board as an executive producer.
The project “provides a revealing look at Wendy’s journey, from her scrappy upstart days in urban radio to the success of her own syndicated talk show,” Lifetime teases in a synopsis.
Williams’ journey, as many know, includes a whole lotta controversy. We’ve chosen the top 10 dramatic moments we’d like to see played out on Lifetime. (Spoiler alert: You can see in the trailer that at least two of these made the cut!)
Bill Cosby Tries to Get Williams Fired
Williams said in a 2019 interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that it’s “absolutely” true that now-disgraced comedian Bill Cosby tried to get her fired from her job on 98.7 KIIS FM in the early 1990s.
“I was the gossip girl, and I had talked about Cosby and some of the ways that he had in his life at that particular time,” she said on the talk show.
Williams explained that Cosby called into the show to complain to the general manager, who then had Williams join them on the call. Cosby gave her a “dressing down,” but she kept her job. “Like, really?” Williams added on WWHL. “Of all the things in Dr. Cosby’s life that affect him, it’s calling little old Wendy? … And all these years later, look at little old Wendy, and look at Cosby.”
The Beef With Tupac Shukur
In her 2016 memoir, My Voice, radio host Angie Martinez shared the transcript of an interview she had with the late rapper Tupac Shakur, who explained his issue with Williams. “I got a beef with Wendy Williams saying I got raped in jail because that disrespected me, my family and what I represent,” he told Martinez, according to a book excerpt published by Billboard.
Tupac dissed Williams in his track “Why U Turn on Me,” but the TV host brushed it off. “Without those song mentions, I might not be on TV right now,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012. “There is a large segment who may have never heard about me on the radio, but they heard Tupac tell me I needed to go to Jenny Craig.”
She Disclosed That Method Man’s Wife Had Cancer
In 2006, Method Man slammed Williams for disclosing his wife’s cancer diagnosis (she is not reported to be cancer-free) on her radio show, saying his wife hadn’t even told family members at the time. “Wendy gets on the air and said, ‘His wife is sick and she not doing too well,'” the rapper told AllHipHop.com. “I was so mad, I was crying right there.”
She Produced a Questionable Aaliyah Biopic
In 2014, Williams produced the Lifetime biopic Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B., a movie her family did not want made.
She Made Transphobic Comments About Caitlyn Jenner
On her talk show, Williams said a Cosmopolitan cover with some of the Kardashian-Jenner women was missing Caitlyn Jenner because Caitlyn “still has a member.” This did not go over well.
She Fainted on Live TV
During a Halloween-themed episode of The Wendy Williams Show in October 2017, the TV host, dressed as a sequin-clad Statue of Liberty, started slurring her words before stumbling and dropping to the floor. “A lot of people thought it was a joke,” she said after a break. “No, it was not a joke. I’m a tall woman and it’s a long way down. I’m a woman of a particular age. I don’t do stunts like that. I don’t need that.” She explained the incident was due to dehydration.
Her Divorce From Kevin Hunter
Williams filed for divorce from Kevin Hunter, her husband of more than 20 years, in 2019. In an appearance on The View later that year, Williams seemingly confirmed the tabloid reports that Hunter had fathered a child with another woman. “Infidelity’s one thing, a whole other baby is a whole other topic,” she told the panel. “I’m not changing Pampers; I want to be pampered.”
Health Issues
Williams took a month-long break from her show in 2018 and more than two months off in 2019 to deal with her Graves disease and hyperthyroidism. And later in 2019, she revealed she had been diagnosed with lymphedema, a blockage of the lymphatic system that can result in swelling in the legs.
Her Time in a Sober House
In March 2019, Williams, who’s been candid about her past cocaine struggles, told viewers she had been living in a sober house “for some time.”
She explained in an emotional monologue that she was attending regular meetings, working with a 24-hour sober coach, and living in a facility “with a bunch of smelly boys who have become my family.”
She Made Offensive Comments About Gay Men
In February 2020, Williams criticized gay men on air. “Stop wearing our skirts and our heels,” she said on her talk show. “Gay men, you’ll never be the woman that we are. No matter how gay, sir.”
She later posted a lengthy video apology. “I’m not out of touch, except for perhaps yesterday by saying what I said,” she said in the tearful clip. “So, I deeply apologize.”
Wendy Williams: The Movie, Premiere, Saturday, January 30, 8/7c, Lifetime
