Wendy Williams Unlikely To Return To Talk Show In Early November

Wendy Williams’ daytime talk show is officially back on air, but the host is extending her leave from the show into November.

“The Wendy Williams Show” Season 13 premiered Monday without the 57-year-old television personality, and her hiatus will continue into the next month. The official Instagram account of the show announced Tuesday that the “fun and laughs” will continue with two new guest hosts filling in for Williams starting next week.

The first one will be comedian Whitney Cummings, who will guest host the show from Oct. 25 to 29. The second will be “The View” panelist Sherri Shepherd, who will take over from Nov. 1 to 5.

Cummings quickly left a comment on the post saying that Williams is irreplaceable but that they will be doing their best to host the show as the latter takes some time off to completely recover from her health issues.

“Nobody can ever replace Wendy, but we will do what we can to fill in so she can come back stronger than ever. She’s gone so hard for so long and as much as I miss seeing her every day, just imagine how hilarious she’s gonna be after some time to take care of herself and have some quiet time to think,” she wrote.

When the daytime talk show debuted its new season early this week, a four-person panel comprising Bevy Smith, Michael Yo, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Devyn Simone was introduced to the audience in the absence of its eponymous host, according to Fox News.

No one from the panel talked about or addressed Williams’ current health status on the show, but Yo expressed that they can’t wait for Williams’ return to her purple chair.

The show has also issued a press release that included a statement from Shepherd saying she’s excited to be back and to host the talk show for a full week, according to Page Six.

“I had such a great time when I hosted the show in 2019 and I’m flattered that Wendy and the producers put their trust in me to fill in again. I’m sending my love and well wishes out to her,” Shepherd added.

Williams’ production company, Debmar-Mercury, announced last week that she was going to extend her hiatus due to ongoing health issues that stemmed from her Graves’ Disease and her thyroid condition.

The current season has been delayed several times due to the host’s health problems. It was supposed to originally debut on Sept. 20 but was moved to Oct. 4 after Williams contracted a breakthrough case of COVID-19, among other issues.

Although Williams had recovered from COVID-19, she continued to struggle with other health problems, forcing producers to delay the premiere to Oct. 18. Ultimately, they decided to launch Season 13 sans Williams, as per People.