Cx1DJs We Do Things Different Podcast "Untold Stories of Wendy Williams" hosted by DJButterrock
Cx1DJs We Do Things Different Podcast "Untold Stories of Wendy Williams" hosted by DJButterrock Wendy Williams Hunter[a] (née Wendy Joan Williams; born July 18, 1964) is an American former broadcaster, media personality and author. Williams began her career as a radio DJ and quickly became known as a shock jock in New York City. She gained notoriety for her confrontational interviews of celebrities. The VH1 reality series The Wendy Williams Experience broadcast events surrounding her radio show in 2006. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show The Wendy Williams Show.
Williams was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. On her 50th birthday, the council of Asbury Park, New Jersey, renamed the street on which she grew up to Wendy Williams Way. Her other endeavors include authoring several books, appearances in various films and television shows and touring her stand-up comedy show.[5][6] She has also created a fashion line, a wig line and a jewelry collection.
Due to health complications, Williams retired from hosting The Wendy Williams Show in 2021. She was placed under a guardianship one year later and was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023.[7] Williams' legal counsel began litigation against the guardianship in December 2025 after the findings of a court-ordered medical evaluation were released. In it, a neurologist diagnosed Williams with alcohol-related dementia, recommending that her guardianship be terminated as the findings did not indicate she was affected by a progressive form of aphasia or dementia.[8][9]
Early life
Wendy Joan Williams was born on July 18, 1964, in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[10] She is the second of three children born to Shirley (née Skinner) (1937–2020) and Thomas Dwayne Williams (1931–2026).[11] The couple had a combined three master's degrees;[12] Shirley was a special education teacher while Thomas was a teacher and school principal who in 1969 became the first black school administrator in Red Bank, New Jersey.[11][13] Following race riots in Asbury Park in 1970, the family moved to the predominantly white, middle income suburb of Wayside in Ocean Township, New Jersey.[12][14] They attended a Baptist church[15] and visited the town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, each summer.[16] As a child, doctors recommended Williams be medicated to control her hyperactivity.[17] She suffered from poor body image due to the diet her parents put her on after gaining weight in elementary school.[14] Williams was a Brownie in the Girl Scouts and volunteered as a candy striper.[16] Her parents believed she would become a nurse.[14]
Williams as a sophomore in Ocean Township High School's 1980 yearbook
Williams acted as an announcer at her younger brother's Little League Baseball games.[12] She graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1982 among four black students, ranking 360th in the class of 363.[10][14] Her academic performance contrasted with that of her older sister, who received a university scholarship at the age of 16.[18] As she was able to use "white" diction instead of African-American Vernacular English, Williams's white classmates considered her one of their own and freely used the word nigger around her.[14][19] She did not get along with the other black students and said their only commonality was smoking cannabis.[12][14] According to Williams, she did not listen to hip hop music and instead listened to rock bands like AC/DC because they were popular with her classmates.[17] Due to her suburban upbringing, Williams considers herself "a multicultural woman who happens to be Black".[18]
Williams attended Northeastern University in Boston with the intent of becoming a television anchor.[20][21] Less than a month after starting, she switched from television communications to radio because she could advance her career faster[21]—a move which her parents disapproved.[18] Williams graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and, to appease her parents, a minor in journalism.[20][22] She was a disc jockey for the college radio station, WRBB, where rapper LL Cool J was her first celebrity interviewee. As an intern for Matt Siegel at contemporary hit radio station WXKS-FM, Williams recapped the soap operas Dallas and Dynasty on air.[10][14] In 2021, Williams revealed that she was date raped while in college by R&B singer Sherrick.[23]
Williams was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. On her 50th birthday, the council of Asbury Park, New Jersey, renamed the street on which she grew up to Wendy Williams Way. Her other endeavors include authoring several books, appearances in various films and television shows and touring her stand-up comedy show.[5][6] She has also created a fashion line, a wig line and a jewelry collection.
Due to health complications, Williams retired from hosting The Wendy Williams Show in 2021. She was placed under a guardianship one year later and was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023.[7] Williams' legal counsel began litigation against the guardianship in December 2025 after the findings of a court-ordered medical evaluation were released. In it, a neurologist diagnosed Williams with alcohol-related dementia, recommending that her guardianship be terminated as the findings did not indicate she was affected by a progressive form of aphasia or dementia.[8][9]
Early life
Wendy Joan Williams was born on July 18, 1964, in Asbury Park, New Jersey.[10] She is the second of three children born to Shirley (née Skinner) (1937–2020) and Thomas Dwayne Williams (1931–2026).[11] The couple had a combined three master's degrees;[12] Shirley was a special education teacher while Thomas was a teacher and school principal who in 1969 became the first black school administrator in Red Bank, New Jersey.[11][13] Following race riots in Asbury Park in 1970, the family moved to the predominantly white, middle income suburb of Wayside in Ocean Township, New Jersey.[12][14] They attended a Baptist church[15] and visited the town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, each summer.[16] As a child, doctors recommended Williams be medicated to control her hyperactivity.[17] She suffered from poor body image due to the diet her parents put her on after gaining weight in elementary school.[14] Williams was a Brownie in the Girl Scouts and volunteered as a candy striper.[16] Her parents believed she would become a nurse.[14]
Williams as a sophomore in Ocean Township High School's 1980 yearbook
Williams acted as an announcer at her younger brother's Little League Baseball games.[12] She graduated from Ocean Township High School in 1982 among four black students, ranking 360th in the class of 363.[10][14] Her academic performance contrasted with that of her older sister, who received a university scholarship at the age of 16.[18] As she was able to use "white" diction instead of African-American Vernacular English, Williams's white classmates considered her one of their own and freely used the word nigger around her.[14][19] She did not get along with the other black students and said their only commonality was smoking cannabis.[12][14] According to Williams, she did not listen to hip hop music and instead listened to rock bands like AC/DC because they were popular with her classmates.[17] Due to her suburban upbringing, Williams considers herself "a multicultural woman who happens to be Black".[18]
Williams attended Northeastern University in Boston with the intent of becoming a television anchor.[20][21] Less than a month after starting, she switched from television communications to radio because she could advance her career faster[21]—a move which her parents disapproved.[18] Williams graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and, to appease her parents, a minor in journalism.[20][22] She was a disc jockey for the college radio station, WRBB, where rapper LL Cool J was her first celebrity interviewee. As an intern for Matt Siegel at contemporary hit radio station WXKS-FM, Williams recapped the soap operas Dallas and Dynasty on air.[10][14] In 2021, Williams revealed that she was date raped while in college by R&B singer Sherrick.[23]
