The woman who made “How you doin’?” famous hasn’t been doing so well, unfortunately. But it looks like she is on the road to intentional recovery.
Wendy Williams recently returned to lead her The Wendy Williams Show after an over-month-long hiatus, due to a fractured shoulder and her continued battle with Grave’s Disease. There’s been a lot of speculation concerning her health, but the 54-year-old host took initiative to speak her truth.
“So, you know me for being an open and truthful person,” the successful talk show host began without wasting any time.
“I have been living in a sober house. … You know I’ve had a struggle with cocaine in the past,” she confirmed, through tears. “I never went to a place to get treatment … there are people in your family, it might be you … I want you to know more of the story.”
Williams also added that no one knew about this news besides her husband, Kevin Hunter, and their 19-year-old son Kevin Jr.
“Only Kevin and Kevin have known about this. Not my parents, nobody. Nobody knew because I look so glamorous out here,” said Williams. “I am driven by my 24-hour sober coach back to a home that I live in the tri-state with a bunch of smelly boys who have become my family.”
As People noted, Williams admitted to having an addiction to the substance for about a decade, early on in her career, where she made a name for herself in the radio industry.
“Drugs were a demon I had to overcome,” she said in a 2014 interview with the magazine.
Williams also made a point to pay it forward by recently launching The Hunter Foundation, a non-profit co-founded with her husband and son to provide “resources for drug education, prevention and rehabilitation programs.” Per Williams, the foundation has already “successfully placed 56 people in recovery centers around the world.”