Wendy Williams ‘Grateful’ After Announcement Sherri Shepherd Is Officially Replacing Her

Wendy Williams is “grateful” after the announcement that her eponymous talk show “The Wendy Williams Show” is coming to an end after 13 seasons.

On Tuesday, Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, the producer-distributor of Williams’ longtime talk show, announced that her run as host will end once the current 13th season is over.

The show will be reformatted when it returns in the fall season, with Sherri Shepherd officially taking over the time slot, Deadline reported.

The decision was made after Williams stepped away for the entire season to address health issues. The show’s premiere had to be delayed when she contracted a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

By the time Season 13 was supposed to start airing, an official statement was released saying Williams won’t be able to make it as she was “experiencing serious complications as a direct result of Graves’ disease and her thyroid condition.”

“The Wendy Williams Show” eventually started without Williams sitting on her purple chair. Instead, producers had to bring in a slew of guests hosts each week. Among them was Shepherd, who gained a lot of compliments from viewers.

In response to Debmar-Mercury and Fox TV’s decision, Williams’ spokesperson Howard Bragman issued a statement to Deadline, detailing the famous talk show host’s reaction.

“It’s been a challenging time for Wendy as she deals with her health issues. She is incredibly grateful to Debmar-Mercury, to Sherri and everybody else who has supported the show through this time,” Bragman said.

Williams’ spokesperson noted that the host understood the bosses’ decision because it would be unfair for the show to continue featuring her name in its title without her appearing on it.

“She, more than anyone, understands the reality of syndicated television — you can’t go to the marketplace and sell a show that’s ‘The Maybe Wendy Show,'” Bragman explained.

He continued, “She understands why this decision was made from a business point of view, and she has been assured by Debmar-Mercury that should her health get to a point where she can host again and should her desire be that she hosts again that she would be back on TV at that time.”

Meanwhile, Shepherd proudly announced her upcoming show, “Sherri,” on Instagram on the same day. She uploaded a series of snaps taken while she was hosting Williams’ show and talked about her new project, which according to her was a dream come true.

“When you think it’s a ‘no,’ sometimes God is saying, ‘Not yet!’ I’ve wanted to do my own talk show since I left ‘The View’ in 2014! Today, God showed the world my ‘YES!’ Thank you everyone for making this dream of hosting my own talk show come true,” she wrote in the caption.