Wendy Williams Hated Calling ‘The Wendy Williams Show’ a ‘Woman’s Show’
Wendy Williams reached a wide global audience with her long-running Wendy Williams Show. Although the show attracted and inspired a lot of women, she was still hesitant to call her program a women’s show.
Wendy Williams claimed calling her program a women’s show was a mistake
From the beginning, Williams designed her talk show to be accessible to her original audience. The Wendy Williams Show was designed to fill the celebrity gossip niche she once occupied with her radio show. This was why the proclaimed shock jock merely translated some of her old radio material for the world of television.
“The show consists of segments that have been in my comfort zone,” she once told Forbes. “I didn’t get kicked out of radio. I left to do television! My radio show wasn’t broken, so the components of The Wendy Show are genuinely things that I created for my radio show, and they worked there. We refined them, and they work for television. It’s a no-brainer to do ‘Hot Topics,’ which used to be 8-10 minutes. For season 4, we listened to the viewers, and now we do the segment for 20 minutes.”
Using social media to listen to her fans’ voices, Williams would sometimes tailor her show to the audience’s needs, which resulted in its success.
“Cooking segments, performances, dancing, tweaking ‘Ask Wendy’ to include a celebrity… How do we figure that out? It depends on the day and celebrity,” she said. “I have a wonderful team of producers that work for us, and a wonderful staff. I truly do like to have an open ear to everyone’s suggestions. Then, with regards to timing we figure out how it would work for the show. We figure what clicks with the audience because we listen to the Wendy watchers. We watch what’s on my Facebook, Twitter, and we listen to what people say in the streets.”
The Wendy Williams Show might’ve dedicated a few topics solely to women. But it also covered a wide variety of subjects, from celebrities to real-world issues. She didn’t think her series should be limited to being solely a women’s show.
“It’s a mistake to say that my show is solely a woman’s show, a gay man’s show, or a black show,” Williams once said in an interview with Ray Cornelius. “This show just happens to be hosted by a heterosexual, black woman who is married and almost 50 years old. In my mind, I am a fun but responsible woman.”
Why Wendy Williams didn’t consider herself a role model for women
There was a time when everything Williams touched seemed to be a success. This, coupled with her rags-to-riches story, made her an inspiring figure to many. At one point, she was the only Black woman with her own talk show. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, she said she hoped to share her success with others by helping find other talented personalities.
“I would like to make other people stars, honestly. Who’s the next Wendy? I mean, there’s only one Wendy, but I’m not selfish, I’m not greedy, and I’m definitely not jealous. People accuse me of being jealous of women all the time, by the way. But I’m not,” she said.
But simultaneously, she wrestled with the idea of being a role model for others. She felt she only shouldered that kind of responsibility for her family.
“I feel a responsibility to [my 17-year-old son, Kevin Hunter Jr.], me, and my husband [Kevin Hunter], who manages my career, our dog, and my family. I didn’t ask to be a role model; I don’t like that responsibility. But if you see something in me that you really adore, thank you,” she said.
