What an unfortunate way to go out.

"The Wendy Williams Show" after 13 syndicated years ends in a less than desirable manner. Her final show to be broadcast on Friday will end as it has carried on all year, without its namesake.

Wendy Williams was born and raised in New Jersey. She grew up first in Asbury Park but the family left in 1970 after race riots and she then lived in Ocean Township. She graduated from Ocean Township High School and long before Wendy Williams had a TV talk show she was on terrestrial radio at Hot 97 and Power 99. She specialized in her outspoken celebrity gossip.

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This led her to her own TV show airing in daytime back in 2008. Her fanbase was loyal and it managed to take off, becoming syndicated a year later. But the ride has not been smooth.

There were controversies like the time she mocked Joaquin Phoenix's scar from his cleft palate surgery, musing on whether Christie Brinkley faked an injury on "Dancing With The Stars," saying Beyonce "can't talk, she sounds like she has a fifth-grade education." According to Wikipedia, Wendy Williams graduated high school 360 out of 363 so that's a curious glass house in which to throw stones.

There were health problems like Graves disease. There was the time she passed out on live television.

She stopped doing the show in 2021 after testing positive for COVID-19 then dealing with issues from her auto-immune disease, Graves. Ever since it’s been a series of fill-in hosts while keeping the name as "The Wendy Williams Show." The hope was for her to return from whatever issues she was having and retake the reins. In the end, it seemed that she was the only one left who thought that that was going to happen.

Sherri Shepherd, who gets her own show this fall, has been filling in of late. Word is she will still be hosting the very final episode on Friday of "The Wendy Williams Show" and the most Wendy Williams fans will get is a video retrospective.

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