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The Anti-Oprah
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In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast’s Kevin Sessums, explosive talk-show host Wendy Williams (whose network television premiere is today) talks candidly about her life as a MILF, her love for Michelle Obama’s hips, why she didn’t breastfeed to save her career, and how Oprah opened the doors for “flawed beauties” to become talk-show hosts.
Today is officially Wendy Williams Day in Manhattan— not only because a proclamation signed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has made it so, but also because her nationally syndicated television talk show debuts. Williams, 45 years old, has long proclaimed herself to be the Queen of All Media, and now with the talk show, it doesn’t seem like self-aggrandizement. Her syndicated radio show has over 12 million daily listeners in its 2-6 p.m. time slot and her books—two autobiographical ones and the series of Ritz Harper novels— have all been bestsellers. She was recently nominated for the Radio Hall of Fame.
“I think Oprah and I have a lot in common. We both like a Lemon Drop Martini. We both love to eat and have a problem with food that we both are constantly trying to battle.”
Williams is known for her brashness. Her fans love her for it, but some of the celebrities she has interviewed have not—including Whitney Houston and Sean Combs and Apprentice “star” Omarosa Minigault-Stallworth. Unafraid to delve into the private lives of the famous, her own private life has become rather infamous itself. Her husband, Kevin Hunter, works with her in all her endeavors and was accused of sexual harassment by one of their co-workers in 2008. (Both Williams and Hunter deny the charges.) His alleged infidelity has been much discussed by her and her distractors alike. After several miscarriages (which she openly reveals), Williams gave birth to their son, Kevin Jr. eight years ago. She’s been public as well about her extensive plastic surgery—her breast implants, her Botox injections, and her liposuction—and wears wigs so luxurious they are more landscaped than styled. Her own past drug addiction has been some of the richest fodder for her books and radio show.
The Daily Beast’s Kevin Sessums got exclusive access to a closed-set rehearsal for the talk show last week and afterward sat down with Williams before she headed off to do her radio show. He waited patiently as one of her false eyelashes became unglued and she along with it. “Good God,” she shrieked, summoning her makeup artist. “I don’t want to diva-out but I’m about to click my fingers and go National Enquirer buck-wild. I gotta keep my look goin’!”
Kevin Sessums: First of all, congratulations. Some people on television have a face for radio, as they say. But you’re a radio personality who has a face for TV.
Wendy Williams: Ya think? Society is very judgmental but I’m ready to present myself warts and all. The idea of having a TV show is everything I’ve fantasized about but nothing I could truly imagine. I’m not talking about a cable show on Channel 400. I’m talking about a real network-TV show.
What’s your take on the grief-as-hoopla Michael Jackson coverage on TV this past week? I know on your radio show you were taking Al Sharpton’s side regarding how the press was overcovering the Jackson death.
I think if you talk about something too much then eventually you’re going to say something horrible about it. The press started out mourning the loss of Michael Jackson and now it’s turned into a witch-hunt almost. What is in that will? Did he really have vitiligo or was he just bleaching his skin? God I can’t believe I’m saying this—but in the interest of good taste let the man rest in peace.
But you take on people’s private lives all the time on your radio show. Is the difference that they’re alive?
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
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Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
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Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
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Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
If you need to tell people you are a MILF, you probably aren't one. Yuck.
I admit - I read the whole article. Wendy Williams is the type of person you love to hate. She is an embarrassing train wreck. Yet, I read the whole article. And, if I'm home I might watch the show.
I read the whole thing and started envisioning myself eating a cold chicken breast in my stained pink robe watching her show.
"She is an embarrassing train wreck." We have Palin for that already. We don't need a second one. Williams and Palin do harm to the image of women in our society. We need bright women on television -- oh, like Oprah.
What isn't bright about Wendy Williams? Wendy's self-aware; you're confusing her unapologetic outrageousness for idiocy. If you think she isn't clued-in on how vastly different from Oprah she is, your comprehension is the problem.
Williams doesn't bother trying to hide who she is, and believe it or not she's got a better handle on black America than Oprah does. Just because she offends your sensibilities doesn't mean she isn't insightful or that she isn't compelling.
Generalizing The Enemies of Feminism does just as much damage to the image of women as women like Palin. You may want to re-read the Iman question before you spit all over Williams again.
Williams represents the decline and fall of civilization. I have great respect for Oprah so when Williams thinks she is like Oprah because they both like lemon-drop martinis, she is big-time missing the irony of how dissimilar they are. It's a headline-maker to compare the two women; however one is class; the other is trash.
( Williams responded to the press coverage of Michael Jackson's death
as perhaps excessive ).
The hyper sensitive reaction to the media coverage of Jackson's death,
and the comparison some make to the attention Elvis' death garnered,
is a lousy barometer.
When Elvis died in the 1970's there were three
major channels that shut down after midnight.
Remember television channels signing off with the National Anthem,
followed by the appearance of the color bars ?
We all know if Elvis had died in this current 24/7 culture his death
would have been all over the cable networks 'round the clock.
Perhaps Nancy Grace could have turned Elvis' death into what might
be perceived as a mini-series, similar to what some might perceive to
be a mini-series about Caylee Anthony, with all the flashing
"Breaking News," and obnoxious scroll images.
Larry King would have a year of material to exploit Elvis' death.
If you want to see how untalented this clown is, search "Wendy Williams Omarossa" and watch a washed-up reality show guest who hasn't been famous in 5 years destroy Wendy Williams at her own game.
I am so sorry to be so out of the loop but what is a MILF?
It means a Mother I'd Like to Fuckin' throw up on.
that's funny....I thought she was a second rate looking Ru Paul....there are lots of gorgeous moms out there who I would ahhh, well, you know.....but SHE AIN'T ONE OF EM.....good lord no....same for Ru Paul for that matter. MILF? Uhhhhhhh......back to the drawing board, Wendy.
She made some incredibly disparaging remarks regarding NYC Transit Workers and their Union during their contract struggles with the infamous MTA. We didn't forget that. So if they want to bring that skank out in the open, fine. Transit Workers won't be watching.
I have been in her company ( I didn't even know who she was) and I felt as if she was sucking all the air out of the room, She has an exhausting personality and she is a bit of an attention wh**re
MILF...Uh, don't know about that one. Plus how can you go around calling yourself a MILF, when..."Williams suffered from a weight problem and had liposuction and breast implants surgery, augmenting her breasts from an A cup to a DD cup. "
Source=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Williams_(radio_host)
From an A cup to a DD cup? really! Think about how big she is....now take away the breasts....Ewwwww...
you guys calm down. don't you see this is all entertainment? why the f*k are you reading anything about my wendy anyway?you go girl.... saffonda b cox
Uh . . . as a guy who likes MILFs every bit as much as the next guy, I have to say that breast implants, Botox injections, liposuction, wigs, false eyelashes, and the like, add up not to a MILF but rather to some kind of anti-MILF from whom most males with even a minimal amount of taste or self-respect would flee as quickly as possible.
i don't mean to sound cruel, but when i first started to hear and see wendy williams i thought she was a man in drag. SERIOUSLY. it has taken me some mighty convincing, such as reading this article, to NOT continue to think that.
not that i didn't think she was funny - she was - and god knows, i've known my share of drag queens (hi, eddy!)....but, dang, wendy, you had me fooled for a long time.
(hmmm. i think.)
I though she was Rupaul's sister. LOL
She might be a tad deluded about the milf part ...
That's a man , Baby !
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Yeah, I had to google her just to find out what the fuss was about too. Just from what i read on the web it sounds like she's got all the class and ego of a Howard Stern. She kinda looks like him too, in certain photographs...
Not that it matters because I'm obviously not in the demographic she caters to. Thank god.
This is a train wreck waiting to happen, she is the what Perez Hilton would be if he were black and female.
I thought she was a guy-- she isn't a guy?
I think she's fantastic. At least she's honest about her contribution to culture, and I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who cares about offending atheists.
Four pages and not one interesting thing said- the purpose of this interview was to encourage people to watch the show?
And can we please stop using people's skin color as a pejorative? "I'm too white and gay to understand that term." You dont know widely used slang, fine. But make it a reason to put down a race.
Milfs have a touching, vulnerable quality about them. This person is more like a sharkey TV person who makes my fillings itch and my stomach hurt just looking at her.
Before a TV talk show becomes reality, there has been research and development provided to determine if a market exists for this venue. If the numbers are right the show goes on. Therefore apparently whether Wendy is a tranny or not, spondsors are going to pay big money for this gig. And like all shows if it flops, losers will take their lumps and move on. Oprah offers something more sophisticated for her viewers, but there are those who are ready for something else, and that's where Wendy is. I think there's room @ the top for many talented people. Don't forget 'variety is the spice of life'.
Wendy Williams is 100% FEMALE! Men cannot give birth! Let me repeat that, MEN CAN NEVER GIVE BIRTH!! They don't have the internal generic makeup to do so. (And the man who gave birth recently, was born a woman first before changing into a man).
Wendy is in the right business for being a media-all-eyes-on-me person. She's brash, loud, funny, and she doesn't forget where she comes from and how far she's come from that and the ugliness in her life. Oprah would kill for a husband and a child, something Wendy has managed to have that Oprah doesn't.
Every dog has its day . . .
Thank you.
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