Wendy Williams Final Show Airing This Friday
One of the most significant daytime talk shows in history, The Wendy Williams Show, is coming to an end as its final episode airs this Friday, June 17th. Although the titular host who started it all won’t be there for her last show, there will be a video montage to celebrate the iconic ‘How you doin?’ host.
Early this year, Wendy Williams never showed up for the beginning of the television 2021-22 season. After a successful past few years of celebrating ten years of Wendy, gaining a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and getting her own Lifetime movie, fans were distressed to find out Wendy wasn’t coming back for the start of the new season. After 13 seasons of being the “Hot Topics” queen, Wendy had tested positive for Covid last September and needed some more time before returning to the purple chair for her 14th season.
Wendy and The Purple Chair
As guest hosts lined up week after week, word on Wendy’s health seemed not to get any better. Her reasons for not returning stayed mysterious, and the press and tabloids began spreading rumors about her state. As many loyal Wendy fans know, Wendy has suffered from Graves disease(an autoimmune disorder) and lymphedema in her legs (which has become very prominent in the past few years). Due to these health-related issues, Wendy has had to take a step back from hosting.
Wendy Williams Wants to Come Back
This March, Wendy was placed under financial guardianship and claimed misconduct by Wells Fargo. After tabloids went wild, a statement was read by Wendy’s attorney and publicist.
“Wendy wants the world to know that she strenuously denies all allegations about her mental health and well-being.”
Despite her monetary troubles, Wendy has claimed she is still coming back to the show next fall, even though it’s not on the schedule.
The news of this came from Variety, which also reported on where co-presidents of Debmar-Mercury stand with Wendy Williams. Co-presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus addressed the situation regarding Wendy for the first time and said they’d still like to work with the host again. According to Variety, Bernstein said,
“It doesn’t mean the next day, but we will put it together and figure it out,…It’s not like we have a Plan B where we hit a button and it’s back in a week, but we do have the desire to be in business with her, if she can come back and be healthy, and so does Fox.”
Marcu added on to Bernstein to say that,
“Other than her health, she could have continued to keep doing it as long as she wanted. She was still getting a rating and she has a die-hard audience that turned it into a profitable show… We were protecting the business, while we waited for her. And at some point, we had to say, ‘We have a business to run and she’s not here.’ It was a hard call.”
Wendy Williams Final Episode Hosted by Sherri
As mentioned earlier, when it didn’t seem like Wendy was returning to The Wendy Williams Show any time soon, the show started to circuit the same group of guest hosts. Some guest hosts included Leah Remini, Michael Rapaport, and even Whitney Cummings, but the fan-favorite remained Sherri Shepherd.
Sherri’s time on the Wendy show was and is so well-loved that the former View co-host is launching her own nationally-syndicated talk show this fall titled “Sherri.” Sherri will take over the timeslots currently occupied by The Wendy Williams Show on the Fox-owned-and-operated stations.
Once Sherri’s talk show got the green light, she announced the following:
“OMG! I am so excited to have my dream come true and debut my very own talk show Sherri in the fall,” Shepherd said when her show was officially picked up. “I can’t wait until I return to NY to host the show and merge everything I love…pop culture, talk, entertainment and comedy. I am thankful to Debmar-Mercury and Fox for partnering with me on this show and look forward to this new journey.”
Sherri Shepherd is currently hosting the final week of The Wendy Williams Show and will be the host of Friday’s final episode of the daytime talk show.
Are you sad to see The Wendy Williams Show go? Do you want Wendy Williams to come back and host another talk show? Let us know what you think in the comments below and be sure to share your opinion on The Nerd Stash Facebook page and @TheNerdStash on Twitter. We love to hear from you!
