The Heartbreaking Reason Wendy Williams Put Her Show On Hiatus

As John Lennon once sang, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." That certainly applies to Wendy Williams, whose life and career have both run into road bumps recently. She raised more than a few eyebrows when she talked trash about Dionne Warwick on The Wendy Williams Show, accusing the legendary singer of not liking her and of having her niece write her Twitter posts (via Page Six). That led Warwick to tweet a response chiding her for all the negativity. 

Then Williams announced that she would be taking a hiatus from her dishy talk show, now in its 12th season. This marked the second time this year that the show has come to a sudden halt in filming. Back in May, Williams had to stop working due to illness. The DJ-turned-TV-host is affected by Graves' disease, an autoimmune disease that causes the thyroid to overproduce its hormone, and severe fatigue can be one of the symptoms. She returned to work after a few weeks, continuing to film her show from home due to the coronavirus. This latest pause, however, came about by a tragedy that had nothing to do with Williams' health issues.

On the December 7 episode of her show, Williams revealed that her mother, Shirley Williams, had passed away some weeks earlier. Although she didn't reveal her mother's cause of death, Williams said that her passing happened "beautifully and peacefully" with loved ones by her side (via People). 

The loss hit hard for the TV personality, who said that she and her mother were extremely close. "Gone is the best mother, the best girlfriend, that a girl could ever have," Williams said. "I feel fortunate that I had her in my life all of my 56 years." She added, "She will always be here."

In a public statement, Williams' production company announced her decision to take a much-needed break (via Variety): "Next week, The Wendy Williams Show will air repeats to allow Wendy to travel and to be with family at this time. The show will return with original episodes on Monday, January 4th. Debmar-Mercury extends its deepest condolences to Wendy and her family."

Williams had returned to filming in the studio back in September — one of the first daytime talk shows to do so. There's no information yet on whether Williams will go back to the studio in January or return to filming from home, but whatever the arrangement is, she will keep spilling the tea for months to come. Variety notes that the show was recently renewed through the 2021-22 season.