TV host Wendy Williams recently sat down with Cosmopolitan for a candid conversation in honor of her show’s 10th anniversary and the launch of her Hunter Foundation’s Give Back Gala.
When asked if anything was off-limits on her Hot Topics, she said:
‘I don’t do my show from a place of mean. I’m not a mean woman. I’m lovely. [Laughs.] However, I’m a straight shooter—there’s only 24 hours in a day and you’ve got five seconds to say something. I’m going to get straight to the point’.
On how her show has changed Daytime TV
I’ve been a broadcaster for over 30 years. And how I think I really made my stamp [on radio] was by talking, innocently talking, about what I saw on the streets. It became a thing like, Oh my god Wendy’s talking. But I don’t like to use the word gossip—that’s a weird word to me.
Next thing you know, the 12 songs an hour that I was required to play turned into six songs because I’m gabbing. Next it’s two songs. Now it’s no music and all talk. I love it. [And now] I find a lot more people doing “Hot Topics,” doing what I’ve been doing for the better part of my career.
On striking a balance as a celebrity herself
It’s not easy doing what I do because…you can’t play two sides. You can’t do what I do and be a ‘celebrity person’ and be socializing with celebrities all the time—it taints “Hot Topics.” The more celebrities I meet, the more disappointed I get in celebrity culture.
And you also can’t do what I do and be out with your friends all the time. I only have one absolute best friend, and she lives in California. We talk every day, but she’s not here [on the East Coast], and I’m almost glad she’s not because she’d be occupying my time. I have to be up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. [After my shows], I’ve got to get home—I’ve got a household to take care of, and myself to take care of. I’ve got to moisturize. I am very serious about my moisturization.
On racism
‘I’m not lying to you—every day when I get home and pull in my driveway, I always squint extra at our mailbox and at our front door [looking out for] vandalism, a cross burned, poop thrown at the door, or something like that. And you know what people commented on my own site? Wendy, why are you complaining? Why don’t you just move?’
On her son’s struggle with drugs
‘My son smoked K2—they take that grass and they spray it with rat poison or whatever. It’s not weed, it’s not coke. Kids are out there smoking that mess. It’ll turn you into a different person’.
‘I saw it for myself—this affected [my family] very deeply. I didn’t know whether my kid would ever return to school. The whole time we’re nursing him through [recovery], I’m supposed to make fun on the show like, “Hi! Here’s Wendy! Hahaha!” But I’m dying inside. [Withdrawal] was a slow process and, for us, it didn’t involve psychiatric drugs or a psychiatrist. We cleaned him out—anything for my boy’.
On her legacy
‘That I made you smile no matter what. [Crying] I can’t stand that bitch, but she is funny as hell–like that, you know? And I do want people to remember me for my race relations, because on the down-low I do a lot for race relations’.
Full interview here Cosmopolitan.Com below:
