‘Wendy Williams Show’ Officially Delayed As Host Needs More Time To Focus On Health

“The Wendy Williams Show” Season 13 won’t premiere on Oct. 4 as previously promised by the producers due to talk show host Wendy Williams’ health problems.

On Thursday, the show officially released an update via Instagram announcing that the producers have ultimately decided to postpone the premiere of the long-running talk show because the 57-year-old television personality is still battling some health issues.

“Wendy will not be returning with new shows on Oct. 4. She has been and continues to be under a doctor’s care and is still not ready to return to work,” read the show’s update.

The statement continued, “Her breakthrough [COVID-19] case is no longer an issue and she has tested negative, but she is still dealing with some ongoing medical issues.”

The producers assured fans that “The Wendy Williams Show” will be back on the air. The new season will premiere on Oct. 18.

Season 13 was originally scheduled for a Sept. 18 premiere. However, they had to push it back to Oct. 4 after Williams tested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19 despite being vaccinated against the coronavirus, Deadline reported.

Following the announcement, a source exclusively told Page Six that the people behind the show made the decision to delay its premiere because they felt that Williams needed more time to heal.

“Healing is not a straight-line process. It was felt within the last 24 hours that we wanted to give her more time to recover,” the show insider was quoted as saying by the outlet.

The tipster went on to say that the last-minute decision was made because they didn’t want to stop the show mid-season if something serious comes up along the way.

“We wanted to make sure Wendy was 100% [ready],” said the source.

The insider finally said that Williams will likely address her health issues once the talk show returns with the latest season.

As previously reported, aside from her breakthrough COVID-19 infection, Williams had a psychiatric evaluation because she’s been struggling with mental health issues for some time.

Additionally, it’s no secret that Williams grappled with Graves’ disease before. She was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease in 2018 and even had to delay her eponymous talk show three times from that year until 2019 as she was dealing with its symptoms.