Wendy Williams, 58, has entered rehab to “focus on her health”, according to a press release sent to HollywoodLife by her publicist, Shawn Zanotti. “Wendy has entered a wellness facility seeking help to manage her overall health issues. She is taking some time to focus on her health and wellness as she prepares for a major comeback for the next level in her career with ‘The Wendy Experience Podcast. Ms.Williams is being treated by a team of some of the best doctors in the world. We ask for your prayers and well wishes during this time,” the release, sent on Sept. 14, read.
Wendy has experienced a myriad of health issues over the years, which ultimately forced her to step away from her popular syndicated talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, in 2021. Some of the health issues she cited amid her departure include Graves’ disease and lymphedema. Her health issues seem to have begun when she fainted during a 2017 taping of her show, and increased as time went by. Wendy has also been open about her struggles with substance abuse in the past and has checked into sober-living facilities before. In addition, she went through a very public divorce in 2019.
Wendy’s talk show ended in June of this year with Wendy’s full-time replacement Sherri Shepherd at the helm. Sherri’s own talk show, SHERRI, premiered on Sept. 12.
The mention of Wendy’s career comeback came a few months after the former talk show host announced her new podcast called The Wendy Experience. In the Instagram clip, which has since been deleted, she said, “Co-hosts, I’m famous and I’ll be back — trust me,” according to PEOPLE. In the caption, she added, “TRUST ME I will be BACK! #wendyexperiencepodcast #welcome #back #stay #positive#cohost #nyc.” The last post on The Wendy Experience‘s Instagram page at the time of this writing shows a smiling Wendy sitting on a couch with the caption, “Self LOVE is the Best LOVE…”
At the beginning of August, Wendy’s rep spoke to PEOPLE with a positive outlook on Wendy’s future as a podcast host and mentioned the importance of her health. “Wendy is excited about everything new in her life and her main priority is her health and shooting her first episode of her podcast,” they said. “That’s the focus right now.”