'Dancing With The Stars' Season 21 Pro Tony Dovolani Responds To Wendy Williams' Claims Kim Zolciak Faked Her Mini-Stroke

Tony Dovolani, who was partnered with Kim Zolciak on Season 21 of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," is speaking out amid claims her recent mini-stroke was fake. Earlier this week daytime TV host Wendy Williams reported that Zolciak, 37, had fabricated her health scare. Dovolani, 42, who was by Kim's side in the hospital, is coming to his "DWTS" partner's defense amid the rumors.

In a recent interview on the popular dancing competition series Dovolani assured viewers that Zolciak had in fact suffered from a transient ischemic attack (TIA), or mini-stroke. As People magazine reported, he revealed that, while he wasn't clear about what happened between Zolciak and Williams, 51, he was certain that his partner's condition "was definitely not fake." Dovolani added Zolciak was acting and feeling strange ahead of the incident. He shared with "DWTS" viewers that his partner just wasn't her normal self.

"She had a headache. She was dizzy. You could see her veins on her left arm," he said. "On Tuesday night, when we were dancing, I was like, 'Babe, you're not yourself. Get your head in the game.' By the time we got to Atlanta, we parted with each other, I went to the hotel and she went home -- I could tell she wasn't her chipper self."

Zolciak also has addressed Williams' comments on social media. When the news broke, the star of Bravo's "Don't Be Tardy" retweeted a story featuring the "Wendy Williams Show" host's comments from her Hot Topics segment. Zolciak added that she found the entire thing to be "disgusting." She then took to Instagram to upload a screen grab of an email from a producer on Williams' show. In the message, he requested that Zolciak Skype into the show Monday. According to her caption, she declined the offer to appear, which was the catalyst to Williams' comments.

During her show Williams shared with viewers that she thought Zolciak might be "fibbing about the stroke." She added that she had also wanted to be kicked off the show, which she appeared on in 2011 also alongside Dovolani. Wendy told viewers she was "sorry" if Zolciak's stroke had been legitimate, but said that if she had gone through all that trouble just to be removed from the competition there was certainly an easier way.

Despite suffering the TIA on Sept. 24, Kim Zolciak was back to practicing for "DWTS" on Saturday. As we reported she and her partner were preparing their routine for Monday's episode, during which they were to perform to a classic TV theme song. Sadly, they were removed from the competition due to the rules, according to the official "DWTS" Twitter account.