Talk show host Wendy Williams has not been acting like herself ever since DailyMail.com broke the news of her husband’s secret affair with a 32-year-old massage therapist.
Sources close to the TV personality said behind the scenes of her energetic talk show, the 53-year-old has been uncharacteristically melancholy.
‘She’s not the same bubbly person that she typically is. She looks very sad and is extremely subdued. It’s been painful to watch,’ the source added.
DailyMail.com has learned that Williams is so distraught that she had a sudden and explosive outburst when she discovered that her old radio nemesis Angie Martinez would be working with her talk show’s company on a new talk show pilot.
The tantrum is one of the only times Williams has shown emotion since her husband Kevin Hunter was exposed for having a 10-year affair with Sharina Hudson in late September, the insider said.
TV talk show host Wendy Williams is not ‘not the same person’ since her husband Kevin Hunter was exposed for having a long-term affair with a younger woman, sources exclusively told DailyMail.com. And now she’s fuming over the fact that her old radio nemesis Angie Martinez (right) would be working with her talk show’s company on a new pilot
Just days after Hunter was photographed strolling along a beach in Barbados during a romantic break with Williams, he was snapped spending time with his mistress (pictured)
According to a well-placed source, Williams and Hunter, who is also her manager, were taken to lunch by executives from her production company Debmar-Mercury, who revealed they were partnering with Martinez on a new daytime show.
Williams immediately burst into tears and screamed at the two executives, while her husband kept yelling, ‘this is some bulls***!’
‘Apparently, it was a dramatic blow up in the back of the restaurant. Lots of screaming, yelling and swearing. No matter how the TV execs explained that it was not a conflict of interest, Wendy and Kevin just weren’t hearing it,’ the source revealed.
Williams kept saying to her team: ‘I can’t believe that b**** is getting a show with them. This is such a betrayal!’
Those close to Williams believe her over the top response to Martinez getting a talk show pilot was her releasing her frustration with everything else going on in her life.
‘No one is sure whether she already knew of Kevin’s affair or was shocked by the news. Whatever the case, she is more embarrassed the veil has been lifted off her life. The woman who gossips about everyone else’s life for a living is now making headlines of her own,’ the source explained.
In late September, DailyMailTV revealed that Hunter had been carrying on a 10-year long affair with Sharina Hudson, a 32-year-old massage therapist, buying them a house in New Jersey
Williams and Martinez (pictured with Tupac Shakur) had worked together in the 1990s when they were both hosts on New York’s famed hip hop station Hot 97 FM
Martinez claimed they once got into a physical fight after Williams (pictured in 1995) declared that Q-Tip, who Martinez was dating at the time, was gay. Williams ‘burst into tears and started screaming’ when she heard of Martinez’s pilot and said ‘I can’t believe that b**** is getting a show with them. This is such a betrayal!’
The bad blood between Williams and Martinez began in the 1990s when they were both hosts on New York’s famed hip hop station Hot 97 FM.
According to Martinez’s autobiography, My Voice: A Memoir, trouble with the two women started when Williams posted a blind item on her website about Martinez’s relationship with rapper Q-Tip.
‘One of my co-workers is dating Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest. Oh well. I guess some women like men who like men,’ recalled Martinez in her book, of what Williams had posted on her website.
Martinez continued: ‘Everybody was gay to Wendy. Every rapper you could think of in that era, I had heard Wendy Williams call them gay. Not one or two. Like every one of them.’
Martinez said she confronted Williams about the matter and things escalated. ‘I lost my f***ing mind. Before I knew it I was swinging at her. It was a quick scuffle. It took only a few seconds for me to realize that she wasn’t really hitting me back — she was just trying to get me off of her,’ she said in the book.
According to Martinez, a co-worker separated them and Williams grabbed a mop in case she needed to defend herself again.
‘She just stood there with it like she wanted to have some sort of sword fight or something. It was actually kind of funny, even in the moment,’ Martinez recalled.
Sources claim that Williams is ‘not the same bubbly person that she typically is. She looks very sad and is extremely subdued. It’s been painful to watch’
Those close to Williams believe her overblown response to Martinez was her releasing frustration with everything else in her life. ‘She is more embarrassed the veil has been lifted off her life. The woman who gossips about everyone else’s life for a living is now making headlines of her own,’ the source explained
The old memories could have angered Williams again when she learned that Martinez, who now hosts an afternoon show on New York’s Power 105.1 FM radio station, was partnering with her TV company.
Sources at the show say that Williams was an ’emotional wreck’ when she returned to the studio, but still had to tape the afternoon show.
‘Producers started pouring glasses of champagne to calm her down while the hair, makeup and wardrobe department tried to pull her together,’ the source said.
‘The more her makeup guy tried to touch her face up, the more she cried.’
The people around her kept trying to console her and encouraged her to calm down, but no one was getting through to her.
Producers were uncertain as to whether she would actually be able to pull off the next show, but once her intro came on and the two doors opened, she walked out on stage and somehow made it work.
In the world of TV, pilots are filmed frequently and many don’t ever make it on the air.
Williams’ own show is currently in season nine and has been optioned for three more seasons through July 2020.