Wendy Williams Willing to ‘Risk It’ for Live TV During Coronavirus Quarantine

People across America may be hunkering down amid the coronavirus pandemic, but for Wendy Williams, the show must go on. During a recent appearance on The Dr. Oz Show, one of just a few talk shows still in production, the talk show host opened up about the moment she learned The Wendy Williams Show would be suspending production and stated her willingness to “risk it” to get back on air.

“I got a telephone call, honestly, and the phone call was, ‘Wendy?’ I was like, ‘What? What am I doing wrong now?’ I always think I’m in trouble,” she said, according to Page Six. “They said, ‘We’re all shutting down everything, all the networks. Nobody is going to be doing new shows. We want all the hosts to be well.’”

Eager to continue with her daily broadcasts, Williams suggested that they instead tape without an in studio audience. Producers agreed, and they went forward on March 12 with that plan, though that ended up being the last episode before production was suspended “indefinitely.”

“I said, ‘But I can do it even with no audience. I don’t even have to have the staffers there because I did that for two days,’” she recalled. “But they said, ‘No. We need to have you home, indefinitely.’ There will be no more Wendy or any of the other people for a period of time.”

Despite the global pandemic, with worldwide cases surpassing 329,000, with more than 14,000 fatalities, Williams is ready to get back to work.

“I’m willing to risk it with one camera and a flashlight,” she said. “I’m ready to go back to work next week. I’m ready to go back to work when we’re like — come on, let’s go!”

Despite her eagerness to return, Williams understands the necessity of halting production, according to a source who spoke to Hollywood Life.

“Wendy knows this hiatus is for the safety of everybody involved so of course she supports the decision,” the source told the outlet. “But she is using her social platform to continue connecting with her audience and has been throwing the idea around of perhaps doing something from home. Nobody knows for sure how long this is going to go on for and anything is possible in terms of weighing their options right now.”

Although there is currently no timetable for The Wendy Williams Show‘s return, the talk show host has been sure to keep her fans up-to-date, frequently taking to social media to give them glimpses her life in quarantine.

The Wendy Williams Show is just one of a number of talk shows, game shows, TV series, and movies to temporarily halt production amid the coronavirus outbreak. The outbreak has also forced the postponement and cancellation of a number of events.