Wendy Williams Hunter (née Wendy Joan Williams; born July 18, 1964) is an American former broadcaster, media personality and author. Williams began her career as a radio DJ and quickly became known as a shock jock in New York City. She gained notoriety for her confrontational interviews of celebrities. The VH1 reality series The Wendy Williams Experience broadcast events surrounding her radio show in 2006. From 2008 to 2021, she hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show The Wendy Williams Show. Williams was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. On her 50th birthday, the council of Asbury Park, New Jersey, renamed the street on which she grew up to Wendy Williams Way. Her other endeavors include authoring several books, appearances in various films and television shows and touring her stand-up comedy show. She has also created a fashion line, a wig line and a jewelry collection. Due to health complications, Williams retired from hosting The Wendy Williams Show in 2021. She was placed under a guardianship one year later and was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023. Williams' legal counsel began litigation against the guardianship in December 2025 after the findings of a court-ordered medical evaluation were released. In it, a neurologist diagnosed Williams with alcohol-related dementia, recommending that her guardianship be terminated as the findings did not indicate she was affected by a progressive form of aphasia or dementia.