Long before the purple chair and the iconic "How you doin'?" catchphrase, Wendy Williams was just a tall, skinny girl from Jersey with a mouth that moved faster than a New York City subway. Honestly, if you only know her from the daytime TV era, you're missing the real story. The younger version of Wendy was a force of nature—a "shock jockette" who crawled her way through the cutthroat world of 80s and 90s radio by being the loudest person in the room.
She wasn't born into fame. Not even close.
Growing up in the Wayside section of Ocean Township, New Jersey, Wendy was the middle child of two educators, Thomas and Shirley Williams. Her house was one where grades mattered and "looking the part" was practically a requirement. But Wendy didn't always feel like she fit that suburban mold. She was one of only four Black students in her high school class. She was five-foot-eleven by the time she was a teenager. People stared. She felt like an outcast, a "multicultural woman who happens to be Black," as she later put it.
The Jersey Girl with a Plan
School wasn't exactly her favorite place, though she was athletic enough to swim for the Ocean Township High School team. She wasn't winning championships, but she was good enough to snag a partial scholarship to Boston College. She turned it down. Instead, she headed to Northeastern University in Boston to study communications.
That’s where the radio bug bit her. Hard.
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While most college kids were focused on parties, Wendy was at WRBB, the college station, realizing she had a "gift of gab" that could actually make her money. She even interned at KISS 108 in Boston, where she figured out a genius way to get on air: she’d wait until the DJ was live, then walk into the booth to show off her freshly painted, long-as-hell nails. The DJs couldn't help but comment on them, giving her those precious few seconds of airtime that started it all.
From the Virgin Islands to Hot 97
After graduating in 1986, her first professional gig was at WVIS in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Sounds glamorous? It wasn't. She hated it. She was lonely, underpaid, and felt like she was learning nothing. She spent her days sending out demo tapes like a woman possessed.
Eventually, she landed back on the East Coast, bouncing from Washington D.C. to New York City. By the time she hit 98.7 KISS FM in 1989, the Wendy we recognize began to emerge. She wasn't just playing records; she was "dishing the dirt." She talked about rappers and R&B stars like they were neighbors she caught arguing in the driveway.
It made her famous. It also made her a target.
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What People Get Wrong About Wendy Williams Younger Years
There’s this idea that Wendy was always the "Queen of All Media" without effort. But the 90s were brutal. She got fired from WQHT (Hot 97) in 1998 after a legendary physical altercation with fellow DJ Angie Martinez. There were rumors, too—whispers that Sean "Puffy" Combs had a hand in her exit because she was digging too deep into his business.
She didn't just walk into another New York job. She had to "retreat" to Philadelphia for a few years, working at Power 99 FM, rebuilding her brand from scratch.
- The Whitney Houston Interview: This 2003 exchange is the stuff of legend. Wendy asked Whitney about her drug use, and the singer famously told her she wanted to meet her "outside."
- The Struggle with Sobriety: Throughout her 20s and 30s, Wendy was a "functioning addict." She’s been incredibly open about her decade-long cocaine habit, describing late-night runs to dangerous neighborhoods just to get a fix before heading into the studio to host a top-rated show.
- The Weight Battles: Her parents were tough on her about her size from a young age. This fueled a lifelong struggle with body image and, at one point, a battle with bulimia that her brother Tommy once caught her in the middle of.
The First Marriage No One Talks About
Everyone knows Kevin Hunter, the man she was married to for over 20 years. But before Kevin, there was a "starter marriage." It lasted about five months. Wendy calls it a rebound and barely gives it space in her memoirs, but it’s a reminder that her journey to finding (and eventually losing) "the one" was messy from the start.
She also dated rapper Eric B. back in 1991. That relationship was a train wreck—she says he destroyed her credit and she ended up with a warrant for an unreturned rental car. It was during this time that she also dealt with a secret pregnancy and an abortion, details she kept hidden for years before finally sharing them in her 2021 biopic.
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A Legacy Built on Authenticity
By the time 2008 rolled around and she got her TV test run, Wendy had already lived three lifetimes. She’d been fired, rehired, sued, and threatened by the biggest names in hip-hop. She didn't care about being "likable." She cared about being real.
She was the first to admit she had "work" done. She talked about her miscarriages (she had two before her son Kevin Jr. was born) with a vulnerability that daytime TV hadn't really seen before. She wasn't a polished news anchor; she was the messy friend who knew all the secrets.
Your Next Steps to Understanding the Icon
If you're looking to really grasp the impact Wendy had before the health struggles took center stage, you should start by listening to old radio archives.
- Watch the 2021 Biopic: Wendy Williams: The Movie on Lifetime covers these younger years with surprising honesty.
- Read "Wendy's Got the Heat": Her 2003 autobiography is much more raw than her later books. It captures the frantic energy of 90s New York radio.
- Research the Radio Hall of Fame: She was inducted in 2009 for a reason. Her impact on how we talk about celebrities today—for better or worse—is rooted in those early, unfiltered broadcasts.
The story of a younger Wendy Williams is a story of survival. She fought her way out of the Jersey suburbs, survived the "cutthroat" nature of New York media, and turned her personal demons into a career that changed the landscape of entertainment news forever.