'Wendy Williams Show' Ends Friday, Without Wendy: Reports

ASBURY PARK, NJ — New Jersey's own Wendy Williams won't be there for the final episode of her namesake show on June 17, multiple media outlets report.

"The Wendy Williams Show" ends Friday after 13 years, sources told Entertainment Weekly and Variety. Williams won't be at the Manhattan studio, the reports say; a video tribute will play instead to mark her long career in entertainment.

The Asbury Park native, 57, was often bawdy, frequently meme-able, and craftily controversial during her daytime reign. She has been absent from the chair where where she sips (and spills) tea since last fall amidst various health issues.

Williams graduated from Ocean Township High School and even has a street named after her in Asbury Park.

In February, as Patch reported, show executives said Williams' popular program would end in the fall. However, that timeline has clearly moved up.

Williams had a breakthrough case of COVID-19 last September, ultimately delaying production on the 13th and most recent season of the show.

Williams first became public about her health in 2017 when she fainted during a show taping and took a three-week leave. Read more: Wendy Williams Faints During Live Broadcast

In 2018, the host came forward about her diagnosis with Graves' disease, an autoimmune condition affecting the thyroid. She has been vocal about her longtime cocaine use that began in college, revealing in a March 2019 broadcast that she was living "in a sober house," although she never specified why.

Williams began her career as a radio disc jockey after graduating college and had a nationally syndicated radio show out of WBLS in New York City.

She is in the National Radio Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Williams has a variety of other credits on television, on stage, and as an author.