Wendy Williams gagged with disdain while watching the not-so-grand finale of her long-running daytime talk show.
“There was nothing I liked about the [the final episode of] ‘Wendy Williams Show,’” Williams, 57, told The Post.
Her eponymous show, which started in national syndication in 2009 and garnered a string of Emmy wins, ended unceremoniously on June 17 at the hands of production company Debmar-Mercury.
The series finale was introduced by returning guest host Sherri Shepherd, 55, who first filled in for Williams in February as she struggled with health issues. Shepherd’s captioning sparked some drama between the two women on social media. Now she’s ready to take over Williams’ coveted morning time slot with a self-titled talk show in the fall.
In late June, Williams revealed to TMZ that she has lost about 95% of sensation in her swollen feet as a result of her battle with lymphedema – a condition caused by a blockage in the lymphatic system. She struggles with the chronic condition and at the same time struggles with Graves’ disease, the immune system disorder that causes an overproduction of thyroid hormones.
Williams announced her Graves’ diagnosis in 2018, after she passed out during a live recording in October 2017. (After regaining consciousness, the veteran announcer returned to the set and closed the show.)
But when asked by The Post why she failed to perform a swan song during the mid-June finale, the sassy hostess said:[Debmar-Mercury] didn’t ask me to do that, so I didn’t. I sat in my apartment and watched it. And [I was] like, ‘Eek!’”
And Williams, without any ill will towards the producers, believes her exclusion from the show’s closure was a production misstep.
“Debmar-Mercury should have done with it in my opinion” [me]not these other people on ‘The Wendy Williams Show,'” said the Hollywood Walk of Famer, adding: “Except Fat Joe.”
The 51-year-old Bronx musician was a guest on rapper Remy Ma multiple times during the daytime diva’s absence from the show in 2021. “I love him,” Williams gushed. “He’s my favorite.”
In the weeks since the “Wendy” stage went permanently dark, the show’s once-verified Instagram account, as well as its much-visited YouTube channel, have been deleted. Die-hard fans of the show objected to the apparently unfair removal, saying on Twitter: “The fact that they deleted the Wendy Williams YouTube channel is insane, but they also went after her Instagram.”
While her celebrated simulcast and all traces of its glory are being scrubbed from the net, the gossip girl hopes to premiere a podcast in the near future, titled the “The Wendy Experience.”
“If you’re extremely famous like me, [hosting a podcast] will make more money than on ‘The Wendy Williams Show,'” a cheerful Williams told The Post.
“What I want to do is podcast and I want to have a restaurant,” she continued, noting that there is no set release date for her show or the opening of her eatery — a seafood restaurant she’d like to establish in New York City or her home state of New Jersey.
As well as debuting her dining room and digital broadcast — on which she plans to talk “everything” with celebrity guests like Donald Trump, Mariah Carey and Queen Latifah — the acclaimed queen of all media says she’s looking for some hot love.
“If I do nothing else, including podcast, I would love to fall in love. I want to fuck,” Williams told The Post in a Zoom interview, with her manager Will Selby off camera. “Excuse me, I’m beautiful. Can I fuck?” she joked.
In April 2019, Williams filed for divorce from her husband of 22, Kevin Hunter, 49, amid revelations that he was expecting a baby with his longtime mistress Sharina Hudson.
To some, the abrupt end of her marriage, coupled with her unyielding health problems, seemed to rattle the veteran shock jock. Wells Fargo even frozen its bank accounts for several weeks earlier this year.
The bank reportedly feared Williams had become a mentally “disabled person” in need of financial guardianship.
However, the unstoppable fireworks, through attorney LaShawn Thomas, denied claims to its reduced capacity and filed a temporary restraining order against the bank, demanding that “any frozen accounts or assets be reopened.”
In February, Vidak For Congress reported exclusively that Williams’ case against Wells Fargo had been sealed.
Her banking and hunt for a sandwich in the hay aside, Williams said she would also consider returning to the small screen.
“Maybe I’ll go back on TV. Maybe, I don’t know,” the media diva told The Post. “I have so much money, I can do anything I want, or nothing at all.”