Television personality Wendy Williams abruptly disappeared from her show

Wendy Williams, the controversial talk show and radio host, dramatically exited her talk show in 2020, and her whereabouts have begun to feel like one of her own hot topic segments.

Williams originally stepped away from her purple chair in 2018 after she fainted on air during her Halloween segment dressed as Lady Liberty in 2017.

At the time, she was said to be taking a three-week break due to her Graves’ disease symptoms.

Williams ended up divorcing her husband and manager, Kevin Hunter, in 2019, after it was revealed he had a baby with another woman.

Williams then put on a cold front toward her ex-husband in interviews, but several family members have come forward to say that they believe the divorce, coupled with her only child leaving for college, took an immense emotional toll on the talk-show host.

Williams returned to her show inconsistently until it was filled with a variety of guest hosts in 2021.

In September of 2022, it was announced that one of the guest hosts, Sherri Shepherd, would take over. That same year, Williams entered a court-ordered guardianship. The reason was not revealed until a press release in 2024, which stated that it was on the basis of her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in 2023.

Primary progressive aphasia is a neurological syndrome that "affects a person's ability to use language to communicate," according to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, a database from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, reported by ABC News.

For fans like me, this was devastating news. Williams, while controversial, was always a light in the entertainment world.

Much of my humor is filled with Williams jokes and references. My sister, a freshman here at Miami, and I often bond over her.

“Death to all of them,” “Dula Peep,” ‘Guess who's jealous of Adele… BEYONCE!”, “What was that…James?” and so many more are memes, quotes and jokes that fill my humor and the humor of many others.

Against the odds and reports we saw for the last five years, Williams is back!

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The documentary titled “Saving Wendy” by TMZ premiered on Feb. 12. Williams gave a phone interview from her assisted living facility, sounding and looking much more like the Williams we know from her purple chair.

The only way to see Williams was by placing a camera on the sidewalk facing her fifth-story window.

According to TMZ, “Almost no one is allowed to visit her. No one can call her. She can make calls out, but that's it. She has no access to the internet. She eats in her room because she says it's extremely depressing to be around 90-year-olds with serious health problems.”

Williams additionally claimed that no one evaluated her for a dementia diagnosis and claims to not even have the condition on the “2 Angry Men” podcast.

Williams also said that her son was stealing from which this led to Wells Fargo flagging her account under the claims of “financial oversight.” These were the initial steps that led to her conservatorship.

The court would go on to claim that her son, Kevin Hunter Jr, could not keep her safe and not expose her to financial exploitation after renting a boat for $113,000 rather than the $15,000 he had initially mentioned. He claimed that the “bank wanted him to have these funds” per the 2 angry men podcast episode with Williams and her niece.

On March 14, 2025, Williams was on the View just two days after she was evaluated and deemed no longer mentally incapacitated.

During the interview, Williams said the "most important thing" to her was "getting out of guardianship," according to People Magazine.

In an Instagram post on April 12, Williams’ long-time producer, Suzanne Bass, posted a series of photos with Williams, who was all smiles.

As a fan, and someone who has had family in assisted living, I am happy Williams is healing and fighting for her autonomy.

In many of her recent interviews, Williams sounds as good, or even better, than she did five years ago. What we saw was a person going through the loss of her 20-year marriage and her only child leaving her nest, all while on display for the world.

I hope we continue to see Williams heal and that she will be back to what she loves. A world without Williams has been quite…boring?

It is strange to imagine what a college experience with Williams would have looked like. What memes and references would have filled our pop culture. But I am happy to see that students like my sister will hopefully soon have Williams back in their lives.

And in true Williams fashion, I'd like to sign off with a “how you doin?”

morri390@miamioh.edu