A painful goodbye. Ever since Wendy Williams’ show was canceled, the talk show host has been taking things rather hard. An insider revealed to the UK’s Sun that the daytime TV host was very sad to see The Wendy Williams Show have its last run without her.
The insider told The Sun on June 23, 2022, that Wendy felt very sad to see her show go. “I know Wendy is incredibly hurt right now. Last week was a tough week for her,” the insider said. The Wendy Williams Show ended on June 17, 2022, after 13 years on the air. “It’s just horrible how everything ended. Imagine if this was your baby that you’ve built all these years. How would you take it? And it is everywhere and it’s viral that it’s all over and it’s in your face- of course, she is hurt.”
Wendy did not appear in the final season of her show due to her ongoing health issues. The host was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and did not sit in her famous purple chair since July 2021. Interim host Sherri Williams hosted the last episode with a video tribute to Wendy. Fans took to Twitter to react to how the show was handled. One user tweeted, “Wendy Williams deserves so much better. She built this show and its audience—to not even pay her the bare minimum respect of letting her appear on its farewell episode is egregious. They handled her so poorly in the wake of her health issues.”
On February 22, 2022, distributor Debmar-Mercury announced Sherri will take over the coveted Fox Network 10am slot with her own show, Sherri. Wendy Williams Show showrunner David Perler will continue his role as showrunner for the next reincarnation of the daytime show. On the same day, Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein called the news of Williams’ exit “bittersweet” in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “We all have a great love and affinity for Wendy, who grew into a true icon during her 12 incredible seasons as the solo host of a live, daily talk show dishing on ‘Hot Topics’ and interviewing celebrities,” they said. “Since Wendy is still not available to host the show as she continues on her road to recovery, we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now. We hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery.”