Wendy Williams leaves wellness facility and says she’s ‘back and better than ever’ after battling back from a ‘lifetime of chronic illness’
DETROIT — Wendy Williams’ once-fabled “body” began shutting down while she was living in Las Vegas with her husband, Donald.
“I have had chronic fatigue syndrome since I was a teenager and it has always plagued me since then,” she told Fox 2 Detroit affiliate WDIV-TV on Tuesday.
The “Real Housewives of New York,” star had just signed on to star in her own TV show — “Wendy Williams: Fit to Eat” — and was eager to get back on the field, where she has won two Golden Globes for acting in the “Liz & Dick” film.
That meant getting off the couch for a while, and she had just returned back from a monthlong hiatus after she took time off to recover from surgery to remove a benign lung cancer that had spread to her bones.
“I went through something like a life-or-death struggle,” she said of the cancer. “I was in the hospital almost 40 hours, and I would have taken it any way.
“But when people are so vulnerable it’s a scary thing, and my biggest fear is coming in and having my husband be the cause of all the worry. So I was terrified that if I was to return to work I would be the one to take the brunt and it would be all my fault.”
But for all the ups and downs and health issues she’s faced — including a bout with Lyme disease — Williams has been able to rise above and focus on being herself over the years. Now, at age 60, she’s inching her way back into the spotlight as she is set to headline the upcoming season of “Wendy Williams: Fit to Eat,” which kicks off Jan. 1.
“You have to be able to take the good and the bad and figure out a way to move forward,” she said. “But you have to know what is positive and what is negative and what you need to keep you going.”