Wendy Williams doesn’t want your sympathy.
But she does want your attention.
The controversial talk show announced on February 21 that she would be taking a three-week leave of absence due to a diagnosis of Graves Disease.
This is an autoimmune disease that leads to a generalized overactivity of the thyroid gland and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in the United States.
It’s a pretty serious illness.
We aren’t very big fans of Williams because he entire career is predicated on tossing out one uneducated and cruel hot take after another…
… but we don’t wish any physical hard on her or anything.
We were glad to hear on Good Morning America today that she’s set to return to the air and is feeling better these days.
Being able to recuperate for those three weeks was the “best prescription ever,” Williams explained to Amy Roach, admitting that were “levels were way off” before this break and she could feel it.
This doesn’t mean Williams was thrilled to learn she had to take almost a month off of work, however.
“I cried and then I laughed,” she recalled of being informed of this news. “[I told the doctor,] ‘Are you out of your mind? It’s sweeps."”
She quickly learned, though, that she was “very deficient of vitamin D,” the worst her physicians had even seen in fact, and really had no choice in the matter.
“There’s was just a mess going on inside my body,” she explained.
Armed with a renewed focus on her health, Williams also says she has learned some valuable lessons from this ordeal; both for her gender and for herself, personally:
“We, as women, particularly if we have families, you know, we’re taking care of children, we’re taking care of our home, our husbands, we take care of everybody but ourselves.
“I’m not doing that anymore, Amy. Wendy first!”
And despite appearing on national television to discuss her disease, Williams does NOT want anyone feeling sorry for her.
Not at all.
Not even a little bit.
“When I see you in the streets, the grocery store, don’t ask me with the woo-woo-woo and the the puppy eyes,” she said, making it clear she’s not here to host any pity parties and adding:
“Then I’m going to snap.”
Jerry O’Connell has been filling in as a guest host on Wendy’s absence, but Williams admits she’s only tuned him to see him in action on two occasions.
She says it was simply too painful because she wanted to be the one in the purple chair so badly.
“Wendy is a true champion and has never missed a day of work. But her health and well-being must be put before all else,” a rep for the show said via statement last month, adding:
“Wendy has been openly dealing with her Graves’ disease for many years in addition to hyperthyroidism.
“Yesterday, Wendy’s doctor prescribed a necessary three weeks of rest to get her levels and medication in sync.”
Now that time is over, however, and Williams can go back to saying really dumb and mean things.
