In sickness or in health, Wendy Williams is gon’ be Wendy Williams. When the 53-year-old talk show host announced to her audience Wednesday that she has Graves’ disease and that doctors have ordered her to go on hiatus for three weeks to deal with the medical crisis, she responded in typical Williams fashion.
“My doctor has prescribed ... are you ready? As of today, three weeks of vacation,” she told The Wendy Williams Show audience. “What? Who are you? I was pissed. Encore performances, really?”
Graves’ disease is an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones (aka hyperthyroidism), according to the Mayo Clinic’s website. Symptoms include anxiety, irritability, trouble sleeping, rapid heartbeat and fatigue.
“I can cop to irritability. Oh, please, I will snap your head off,” Williams told her audience. “But I’m thinking it’s just me micromanaging … the dogs, my husband, my son.”
But even with that list of symptoms, Williams vowed that she would not let the disease keep her down.
“I’ll be back in two [weeks],” Williams joked during her show. “I’m not an heiress. Who is going to pay my bills? Are you serious? I’m just saying, I come from working class.”
In October, Williams fainted on live TV, though that incident doesn’t appear to be related to this recent medical news.