It’s a little after 3:00 p.m. on the East Coast, and Wendy Williams is, by now, too through. It’s Advice Hour and the controversial syndicated radio host is taking a call from a South Carolina listener who wants to know if she should continue a relationship with her now-engaged baby daddy.
“Relationship?! You’re the meaningless jump-off!” Wendy blasts. “He is marrying someone else. What the hell’s wrong with you? Look, just move on,
As is most of Wendy’s counsel, this one scorches with candor and brevity. As if four words were one, she blithely says, “ThankYouByeBye,” and goes to the scores of other callers awaiting her verdict on the state of their personal lives.
There has never been anything quite like The Wendy Williams Experience or its host. Turn any radio dial and you’ll find your share of provocateurs, but Wendy is beyond bold. The show the fortysomething host broadcasts from New York to nearly a dozen cities across the country reaches 12 million listeners daily. Wendy, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media, attracts a motley crew of homegirls, housewives, straight and gay men, lesbians, Buppies, hip-hop fans and working moms—who hang onto her every word. They’re guaranteed a great laugh and an Oh-no-she-didn’t question thrown at an assortment of celebrities and regular folks.
Did you happen to hear her 2003 interview turned verbal smackdown with Whitney Houston? In addition to exposing a harsh side of America’s most beloved pop diva—“Who the {bleep} do you think you’re talking to?” the songstress responded to one of Wendy’s questions—this now legendary “chat” catapulted the jock from cult status to a worldwide arena.
Read more in the June issue of Essence! On newsstands May 23, 2006.