“Wendy Williams: The Film.” Lifetime Biopic covers rape, cocaine, miscarriages, infidelity, and the rise of the NJ star

Wendy Williams was ready for life, but was life ready for Wendy Williams?

Because when “Wendy Williams: The Movie” ends, it feels like the biopic has flipped through selected tabloid headlines in the talk show host’s life, like a quick recap of a larger, unfolding story.

It’s safe to say that there is a lot of footage for the film that could easily be broken into two parts (and doesn’t even include the alleged one-night stand with Method Man that Williams discussed over this week). .

Instead, fans of Williams – and anyone else who is curious – will be treated to a biopic, followed by the documentary “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!” which will be broadcast for life on Saturday immediately after the film.

Produced by Williams and directed by Darren Grant, the film traces the rise of the celebrity, shock-minded TV host. This is a fun trip for anyone who grew up with Wendy on New York Radio (or later Philly Radio). But it also condenses her problems – including drug and alcohol addiction and the 15 year old affair her ex-husband had with his lover before having a baby – into lifelong episodes while glossing over tons of scandals and controversy (sometimes ) It seems like there is one every week.

Enter Williams’ size 11, Ciera Payton (“The Oval”), who conveys the talk show host’s resemblance with expert styling, hair and a select awe of the media queen’s jersey.

Wendy Williams grew up in Ocean Township and lived in Livingston before divorcing her ex-husband Kevin Hunter.Lars Niki | Getty Images

“I’ve had enough of everyone else telling me who I really am,” she says, breaking the fourth wall at the start of the film to speak directly to the Wendy believers (and the Wendy haters).

“Now it’s time to wash my own filth. And honey (picks up an imaginary cigarette), nobody does it better. “

Here are the highlights of the highlights – what Wendy herself could call the hot topics.

“Wendy Williams: The Movie” will air on Saturday, January 30th at 8pm CET, followed by “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!” By 10 o’clock

New Jersey Childhood: “Too Fast, Too Loud, Too Big”

Wendy Williams, now 56, grew up in Ocean Township. This is where the story begins in 1975.

Then 11, a young Wendy (Maika Quashie) lives on a street that mature Wendy proudly notes will later be renamed Wendy Williams Way.

“Back then, people just wanted me out of the way,” she says.

Liza Huget as Shirley Williams and Maika Quashie as the young Wendy Williams in Ocean Township.Ryan Plummer | Lifetime

Her mother, teacher Shirley Williams (Liza Huget), is constantly on Wendy’s case about her weight. She suggests diets of tuna, brine, and mustard to her less enthusiastic daughter.

Wendy is told she is “too fast (by a speaker), too loud, too big”, too much for those around her. She struggles with fear but gets lost in celebrity magazines and on the radio, swearing that one day she will mingle and mingle with the stars.

On this day, not only will people tolerate them, they will want to listen to their voices.

“Back then they called that date rape. It was rape. ‘

Williams hugs cocaine early in her radio career and crouches in toilet stalls to feed her habit.

“It suppressed my appetite and gave me the chemical courage I thought I needed,” she says.

An on-air personality in Washington, DC, Williams interviews a recording artist who she invites to a party. Instead, they end up in his hotel room, where he sexually assaults them.

“At the time they called this rape,” says Williams. “It was rape. It was also the last time someone told me to ‘shh’. “

Actress Ciera Payton steps into Wendy’s size 11. Ryan Plummer | Lifetime

In the film, the perpetrator of the attack is called Ricky Tony. In real life, Williams says, she was raped by Sherrick, R&B singer Lamotte Smith, who was born in the ’80s and a member of the Kagny group, who died in 1999.

It wasn’t William’s first sexual assault experience. She previously talked about being raped in college. In the film, Williams is tested for HIV after the attack in Washington.

“I was scared of dying,” she says.

New York Radio, Cocaine, and Eric B.

Aside from the trauma of the attack, Williams encountered resistance at work. But she always kept an eye on the price – the New York radio.

When she went back to being a soldier, her addiction to cocaine decreased too.

She eventually got a second job in New York, at Hot 103.5, which became Hot 97. She had to drive back and forth to DC for the gig

At the time, her cocaine habit was the “most important social relationship” in her life.

Morocco Omari plays Kevin Hunter, Williams’ ex-husband. They were married for more than 21 years before they separated.Brendan Ko | Lifetime

When the man who fired her from Hot 97 told her to get married and have babies, she stepped in and made it her business to hang out in the Kiss FM lobby. Her persistence eventually paid off with a morning show contract. Williams began advancing a gossip-centered celebrity agenda that ruffled the feathers but also turned her into a standout personality.

Williams became her personal topic in the early 90s when she started dating Eric B from Eric B and Rakim, who she says were ruining her credit. She became pregnant during the relationship and had an abortion.

“It was one of the loneliest experiences of my life,” she says.

Kevin, the affair and miscarriages

In one hilarious tale, Paytons Williams admits that she completely skipped her first husband. (His name isn’t, but he’s Bert Girigorie.) The “starter husband” – they separated after just a few months – was just an Eric B rebound, she says.

Willams, returning to Hot 97, meets her future second husband Kevin Hunter, played by Morocco Omari (P-Valley), at a club.

As she gets closer to Kevin, Willams explains her reasons for plastic surgery – liposuction and breast implants – that stem from body image issues since childhood:

“I’m just sick of the fact that the way I look doesn’t suit me.”

Kevin became a producer on The Wendy Williams Show and Wendy’s manager. He was removed from both positions when she filed for divorce in 2019.Ryan Plummer | Lifetime

When Williams hurts too many sensibilities at Hot 97, she bypasses the non-compete obligations of her New York contract by taking a job at Power 99 in Philadelphia.

After Williams got pregnant, she miscarried seven weeks later and speaks about it in the air. At five months she had another miscarriage, followed by a stillbirth of a little girl. She was diagnosed with Graves’ disease and a weak cervix. She will be put on bed rest for her next pregnancy and will broadcast from her bed.

While Williams gains 100 pounds while at home, Kevin, whom she married in 1997, begins cheating on her with Sharina Hudson before giving birth to their son Kevin Jr. in 2000.

Williams confronts her husband with his infidelity several times, but each time things are smoothed out enough to maintain the status quo.

In the film, Wendy visits her husband’s second home, where he lives with his lover. Brendan Ko | Lifetime

Television, rehab and divorce

After Williams returns to New York and works for WBLS, Kevin “continues to do business at the Fort Lee apartment,” which Wendy sees as a euphemism for his extramarital activities.

The state of the marriage seems bleak, but Wendy’s career begins. After years on the radio, she will become a force on television when “The Wendy Willams Show” hits select markets for two seasons after a preview run in 2008.

But Kevin, an executive producer on the show and Williams’ manager, is continuing his longstanding affair. To Wendy’s horror, she finds that he and Hudson have an entire secondary suburban life – house, pets, and everything – in New Jersey, less than 10 miles from her home (Williams visits the house and sprays the garage).

In 2017, Williams passed out on live television in her Halloween costume. The film restores the moment.Ryan Plummer | Lifetime

Despite the series lie, she stays with Kevin. She says she doesn’t want to go because Kevin Jr. is still in high school.

Williams begins to drink heavily and faints on live TV in her Statue of Liberty Halloween costume in 2017.

Kevin convinces her that she is the one who needs help and doesn’t focus on his misdeeds. Williams seeks treatment at a Florida rehab facility. There she finds out that Sharina Hudson is pregnant and is expecting a baby with Kevin, which does nothing for her sobriety.

At Kevin’s urging, Williams leaves his Livingston home and lives in a sober house in Queens. She shares this new reality with her television audience on an episode of the 2019 show.

But it doesn’t take long before she breaks down Doritos and caviar – a favorite snack – and puts her team together to cut Kevin out of her work and life.

Wendy Williams filed for divorce from Kevin Hunter in April 2019.

“Wendy Williams: The Movie” will air on Lifetime Saturday, January 30th at 8pm, followed by “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!” By 10 o’clock

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Amy Kuperinsky can be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and will be followed on Twitter at @AmyKup.