She may have had some slips and falls in recent times, but she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. According to Variety
, The Wendy Williams Show has been renewed for the next two seasons.The controversial talk show host made the announcement on her 11th season premiere. “Attention, Wendy staff and crew and everybody gather around,” she said, “and you on TV and you here. ‘The Wendy Show’ has been renewed through 2022. I love you!”
The former
radio show host has had her share of grief in the past several months. She took a four-month hiatus due to medical reasons as she revealed that she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and shortly after her return, she admitted that she had been living in a sober house. Williams’ husband, Kevin Hunter, left the show as an executive producer amid rumors of being unfaithful and impregnating his mistress. Williams has since filed for divorce.“Wendy is family to us, and post-AM news, her program jumpstarts the day in our markets. Plus, she’s got enough wigs to make sure the show never gets stale,” said Frank Cicha, executive vice president of programming for Fox Television Stations of the renewal.
Hosted by Williams, the talk show is produced and distributed by Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury and airs on Fox owned-and-operated stations. It averaged more than 1.6 million viewers per day nationally during its past season, including 440,000 in the target demo of women 25-54.
“I’m so excited to launch our 11th year by letting the world know I will continue to do what I love to do so much — and for a very long time,” Williams said in a press release. “I want to tell Fox and all of our stations today how much their support and confidence means to me. They should know we will never stop working very hard to bring our dedicated Wendy Watchers and audience ‘co-hosts’ the freshest national daytime television!”
Over the summer, Williams opened up at Black Enterprise’s FWD conference about her estranged husband and former business partner, advising the live audience not to do business with a romantic partner. “Don’t do it,” she said. “Marry a cardiologist and you go on to be an engineer—make sure people support you but have your separate lives. When you come home you have more to talk about than business. Keep it separate.”