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| Entry tags: | photo shoot, radio shows / radio celebrity |
Wendy Williams (looking Amanda Lepore-esque) in Celeb Life Magazine
Despite her no-holds-barred attitude, or perhaps because of it, the show has become an instant hit, acknowledged by critics as a breakthrough in the realm of daytime talk shows. The biggest indicator of the show’s success is the admiration of its devoted viewers.
What do they love most about Williams? Her ability to keep it real, her sassy sense of humor, and her power to connect with her audience. During one of her “Ask Wendy” segments, she empathized with one woman’s struggle with weight to the point of becoming teary eyed—it’s no wonder her fans feel like she’s a longtime pal.
Williams first made a name for herself on the radio, where she spent 23 years—16 on the air in New York City—winning over legions of fans.
Her former number 1 radio show, The Wendy Williams Experience, which aired on WBLS in New York, drew more than 12 million listeners nationwide. She’s also penned two New York Times bestsellers. Her first book, Wendy’s Got the Heat, tells the story of Williams's ascension to radio success in the form of a bare-naked confessional autobiography. She has released two more books since, including The Wendy Williams Experience, recounting highlights from her many celebrity interviews, and Ritz Harper Goes to Hollywood.
Among her many industry honors, Williams has received the Thurgood Marshall Prestige Award in 2008, an accolade honoring individuals who embody the leadership, commitment and legacy of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall.
But really, how regular is Williams the woman? In between going to the gym and taking time out for an interview, she also took time to make an important call—and not to her publicist.
“I’ve only been off radio for one month, and so far I like TV a lot,” she says. “I actually love this new life, and I don’t miss radio. That’s not to say I wouldn’t go back, but this is working out great. I just got off the phone with my son to find out how his first day of school was, and I told him I’d be home by 2.
“After I’m done working out, I’m going to head home and lie on the couch and watch Oprah, Tyra, and Judge Judy,” she says in a cadence that reveals her native Jersey girl accent. “After that, we’ll sit down as a family and have some take-out Chinese food. Granted, it may not be the conventional dinner, but I do try to be a normal mom and wife to my family.”
That suburban New Jersey family includes the two Kevins—her husband, who is also her manager, and their 9-year-old son. Her mother is her role model, who she admires and has looked up to for years.
“My mother is a little fireball of energy and in great health,” Williams tells. “She’s in her seventies and struts around in Tory Burch looking fantastic. Her nails are always done up, and she knows just the right Hallmark card to send for just the right occasion. Her laughter is infectious; her cooking is amazing; and the way she takes care of everybody around her and always makes time to have a perfect manicure—she’s just phenomenal!”
With her quick wit and distinct set of Wendyisms, Williams is used to being in the limelight and juggling her personal life and career. Her best advice for women who are juggling their roles as professionals and mothers?
“Make sure that your boyfriend/husband/significant other is on the same page as you, understanding what it takes to make your life right, because if they don’t understand then it’s not gonna work. Also, stop lying to one another. Stop trying to be perfect and lying to your friends, acting like it’s perfect, because it really scares them.”
In her new role as TV talk show host, Williams is having a ball and taking the bull by the horns. “I do the best I can, and I have no problem admitting that. I love doing the show, which is live out of New York at 10 a.m.,” she continues, talking a mile a minute. “It’s great because by 11 a.m. I am doing commercials for the next day and by 11:15 … I’m getting on with my day.”
There is no doubt that Williams knows who she is and where she wants to go.
“Honestly, celebrity like this is probably best reserved for people who have a maturity about them. I am 45, so I feel very well grounded. Sure, I feel frightened, but not in a paranoid way—I just know that it can go as fast as the blink of an eye. It all keeps me humble and feeling regular.
“There is no amount of fame or money that could sway me,” she adds. “Authentically, you are who you are.”
Perhaps it's Williams’s strong sense of self that separates her from other talk show hosts who tend to “mind their manners,” so to speak.
“My thing is dialogue; let’s talk about it. I’ve had a series of miscarriages, and I only talked about it on the radio because I was forced to one day. Then I found out about all these women who’ve had miscarriages.
“I know that I’m not alone in my experiences, so it’s nice to share with the audience and connect with them. Also, I’m beyond the point of being embarrassed by things that might have embarrassed me horribly when I was younger—younger meaning 10 years ago and 20 years ago; I’m beyond that.”
Immersed in the culture of celebrity for more than 20 years now, Williams has established a valued perspective on the subject, and she sees a considerable difference between the Hollywood stars of yesteryear and those of today.
“Did those stars truly have talent, or was that a casting couch and a lot of Hollywood manufactured stuff that we are forced to believe?” she queries. “I don’t favor either that generation or this one. I think celebrity, for the most part, is when you leave it in the hands of the studio heads and they try to manufacture it as much as they can. Think about Liz [Taylor]; she had her mother and the whole Hollywood system with her ever since she was a child. Young girls now don’t know any different, but what I can appreciate is that celebrities of today come off as regular people, people next door who have fights with their parents, who come out of the closet or who stay in the closet; they shop at Target. You know that whole Elizabeth Taylor-Eddie Fisher thing and the marriages she had with Richard Burton—all that was a hot mess. She was nothing more than a punching bag, but the studio systems kept a lot of that under wraps. Today, we get our gossip about people who are A-listers like Rihanna from places like TMZ.
"When I was in broadcasting, as soon as I got to work I would check the TMZ and Perez Hilton Web sites and then pick up Life & Style magazine,” she says. “I’d have a smattering of people I would call; maybe they’d be the same ones that were at a Mariah Carey photo shoot, so they could collaborate on the TMZ stories ... but when I started out there was only a few parties to go to in New York. I would write down the gossip and what I saw on napkins and then bring them back to the radio station. It’s truly amazing how live radio has changed since then,” she observes. “Now, there is no such thing as a breaking news story or stories being hidden; everything is just out there."
Since her transition to TV, Williams has grown used to being compared to fellow female talk show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks—but Williams has a quick comeback.
“I’m really neither woman. However, it’s cliché to say that ‘I am me, Wendy Williams.’ Tyra is a supermodel-turned-talk show host and she’s beautiful, Barbie-like, and I am not as silly. Oprah is older than me, she is single, [she] has no kids and she’s a different kind of woman than me. I’ve been doing pretty much the same thing for 23 years; I’m not about to change it now. My approach has always been natural and big,” she says, adding, “plus, there’s too much to remember to be someone else.
“Most people say I am a cross between [Howard] Stern and Oprah—that’s the biggest comparison,” she says. “Others say I have the looks of Donna Summer and the personality of Bette Midler. Hey, I will take them all; the truth of the matter is that I don’t believe there is anyone on TV like me, whether that’s for the good, the bad or the indifferent.”
When she isn’t filming her show, Williams is doing her part to help children and students around the country. She has recently adopted Asbury Park Middle School in New Jersey through DonorsChoose.org, and is hoping to provide its students with the supplies they are lacking.
“They need a lot,” she says. Throughout September she asked her viewers to bring in all kinds of school supplies, from pencils to computers, which she delivered to the school herself at the month’s end. During the holidays she will be volunteering with the Capuchin Soup Kitchen as well. Capuchin provides meals at several locations throughout the city.
Charity begins at home, she says. “Things for me started in Asbury Park, and I want to keep that theme going along with helping children.”
Of course Williams likes to spend as much time as she can with one important child—her son—but sometimes it is tough for both of them.
“Does he know Mom’s famous? Oh yeah, he gets it,” she laughs. “He revels in it, but he doesn’t like having a lot of people around, so we do treasure our time together when we can. I am very much a homebody, and I do enjoy my alone time. I grew up a misfit kid; I was always blacker, fatter, taller—just add an 'er' on the end and that was me! I learned at a very early age to be my own best friend, and I prayed for adulthood so I could get out and see the world.”
In fact, the phrase “I’ll show 'em” became her motto when she was growing up.
“It was the theme of my childhood and early adulthood,” she recalls of her youth in Asbury Park. “I’ll show 'em, I’ll show 'em, I’ll show 'em. And I finally showed 'em.”
These days, she doesn’t mind being taller, bigger and as vocal as all get-out. She loves to wear big wigs, talk about her plastic surgeries and discuss what her own hair looks like at home.
“My hair is long but also thin; I do nothing with it other than put it in a high ponytail when I answer the door to the UPS man. When I am at home, there are no wigs, but I do have them at the ready,” she laughs. “I don’t think my son’s friends would be ready for the big reveal ... however, I am sure that their mothers ask, ‘So, is it a wig?’ The answer is yes. I have a house wig for when friends visit, not for the UPS or cable guy.”
As for what lies ahead in Williams’s wacky but wonderful world, she says she is optimistic. Besides, if she can’t make it on TV, there might be a career in stand-up.
“My husband says I’m funny. I say, ‘Yeah, funny like how?’ Remember that mafia movie when they asked that?” she says, referencing Joe Pesci’s famous Goodfellas scene. “I don’t think I am that funny. I don’t know what I would do if the show ended, but I would do something. And that’s because I believe in myself.”
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