Wendy Williams received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Thursday. Joined on Hollywood Boulevard by Jack Abernethy, CEO of Fox TV stations, radio host Elvis Duran, Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, and her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., according to the Los Angeles Times, the daytime talk show host reflected on her “very tough year” while accepting the 2,677th star.
“The elephant in the room is that I’ve been having a very, very tough year, but slowly but surely I’m climbing out of the pit, and this is one of those monumental days that makes me say, ‘If you don’t believe in yourself, who’s going to believe in you?’” Williams said, reflecting on her recent divorce from Kevin Hunter, her husband of nearly 20 years. “Sometimes life is a very, very lonely path, and you’ve just got to make some hard decisions.”
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Growing even more emotional, the Ask Wendy author went on to address her son.
“There’s one person here that knows — you know — you know there’s no place like home right,” she said. “A little burning food in oven, time to run up to the grocery store, let’s go. Just mom. Thank you Kevin.”
During the ceremony, Williams also paid special thanks to the cast and crew of The Wendy Williams Show, the daytime talk show she has hosted for the last 11 years, as well as her fans, whom she has affectionately dubbed her “co-hosts” and “Wendy Watchers,” according to E! News.
“My fans! Listen, I slipped and called you fans only because I’m in Hollywood and I think I’ve gone Hollywood, but you’re not fans. That’s a stupid word. I’ve always called you Wendy Watchers,” she said. “When you listened on the radio, I told you I love you for listening and now I tell you I love you for watching. You are Wendy watchers and without you, none of this would be going on.”
Beginning her 30-year-plus career as a radio emcee, working for numerous stations before landing her own show on New York’s WBLS, Williams was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. She later brought her voice to the TV screen with The Wendy Williams Show, which was recently renewed for two additional stations.
“I did not know I would be a talk-show host, but I liked the chit-chat; I’ve always liked the chit-chat,” she said. “When they told me, ‘It’s going to be a live talk show,’ I was frightened — frightened. Doing it by myself, I had no problem with because most of my career I’ve been by myself. Even in a room full of a thousand people, I always feel like the person who doesn’t belong.”
The Wendy Williams Show airs weekdays. Check your local listings online.
