Wendy Williams addresses marital rumors during return to show: 'I'm still wearing my ring … and it ain't going anywhere'
Wendy Williams returned to her eponymous TV show on Monday — after an extended and rumor-plagued absence — and explained how she’s doin’.
The daytime star was given a lengthy standing ovation by her studio audience and she was clearly touched. “Look, honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when I hit the block today,” she admitted. “I didn’t know whether you would wait for me, whether you would understand. I had no idea what to expect. Thank you so much for waiting for us.”
Williams quickly jumped right into the reason behind her time away. Noting that she herself had been a “hot topic,” she focused that segment on herself and her whereabouts since December, when the TV personality, who has thyroid disease and Graves disease, went on what was supposed to be a two-week hiatus to address health issues after she worried fans by slurring and seeming dazed.
“I’m not exactly a hypochondriac, but I might be a hypa,” is how she started to explain her absence. “What had happened was we were only supposed to be off two weeks for Christmas vacation. At the end of those weeks, I started to feel ‘thyroid-ish.’ They adjusted my meds. If you don’t know about thyroid disease, it’s a lifelong thing and they are always adjusting stuff. It can really screw you over.”
Williams said that although the thyroid meds were adjusted, her Graves disease acted up as well as her vertigo “and a million other things.” She went through extensive tests (“I can’t even tell you how many doctors I have”), but it was an ordeal with MRIs, CAT scans and other tests. “I’m 54, not for nothing,” she quipped. “Even though you feel 25, honey, you know.”
Williams made it clear she’s a worrier about her health. “I’m the kind of patient — if I cough, I’m thinking I’m dying.” But she reported that doctors says she’s doing “swell.” The time off was to focus on getting stronger, including going to the gym seven days a week for two hours a day and meditating. “I’m sorry it took me 40 or 50 days,” she said. “I know it’s been a long time. I’m sorry! I have to say, it’s not going to happen anymore and I feel good.”
After briefly touching on some celebrity gossip, she then addressed rumors that her marriage to Kevin Hunter is in trouble amid reports of his infidelity. She said that the other focus from her time away was “spending time as the Hunters,” noting, “I’m Wendy Hunter.” She then gave a shoutout to her husband while defiantly holding up her wedding ring.
“I’m still wearing my ring,” she said. “Well believe me you, when you’ve been with somebody for 28 years, married for 25 years… we know each other. He’s my best friend, my lover, he’s all this and he’s all that. I know what you’ve been saying and I know what the streets have been talking about. But … let me show you who I fell in love with,” sharing an old photo of them when they first met.
“I have to say, through the magic of science, good eating and working out, that’s not me anymore,” she said of her younger self. However, “It’s still me in the head and I’m still very much in love with my husband. Anybody who has been married for five minutes or 500 years, you know marriages have ebbs and flows. Marriages are not easy. And don’t ask me about mine until you see this gone,” pointing to her ring. “And it ain’t going anywhere — not in this lifetime.”
While Williams was away from the show, a number of celebrities filled in for her including Nick Cannon and Jerry O’Connell.
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