In March, Wendy Williams vowed she’d be ready to go back to work on her eponymous daytime talk show in about three months. Three months later, the show is preparing to air its final episode without her.
Instead of a triumphant return, or at least a personal farewell to the audience that watched her gossip-heavy talk show for the past 13 years, the Wendy Williams show will officially end its run on June 17—three days from now—with plans to air a montage of clips of the host in lieu of her presence one last time, Variety first reported. It’s unclear exactly why Williams, 57, won’t be present for the last show but she hasn’t hosted it since last year, an absence attributed to “health issues” including a battle with an autoimmune condition known as Graves’ Disease.
The demise of Williams’ show in its current form has been known since February, when it was announced that Sherri Shepherd would launch a new show replacing Williams in syndication in the same time slot. Shepherd was among several rotating guest hosts early in her hiatus but later became the ‘permanent’ fill-in.
Williams has said she doesn’t plan to watch Shepherd’s new show.
She may not have time to, anyway. In addition to her efforts to get healthy and return to the small screen, Williams has been locked in a battle with her bank, Wells Fargo, over control of her finances. Last month, a New York Supreme Court judge placed a guardian over Williams’ finances after the bank petitioned for the move, arguing that Williams had become “an incapacitated person” who was the “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
That legal battle is ongoing.