Wendy Williams’ Speaks On Survival Story In New Biopic

Get ready for a double dose of Wendy Williams as she gives her fans a front-row seat to her controversial and drama-filled life’s story on Lifetime! 

On Saturday (Jan. 30), fans will have a front-row seat into the details of the talk show host and former radio DJ’s rise to fame in Wendy Williams: The Movie starring actress Ciera Payton as Williams. 

Immediately following the film, Williams takes over explaining the emotional toll of discovering the details about her ex-husband’s infidelities and her tumultuous marriage played out in the tabloids, her coveted career from local radio to television icon, and her rise to success in her documentary Wendy Williams: What a Mess!. 

RELATED: Wendy Williams Shares First Trailer For Her Movie Biopic

“She’s all the things that we have made so taboo in our society, especially as a woman. She is assertive, she knows how to speak up, she’s okay with letting her opinion be known,” Payton says in an interview with BET.com describing Williams as a woman with resilience. “She does it with flair and finesse.”

For Williams, the star actress believes that her back-to-back Lifetime premieres will be a healing experience and thinks that the audience will go on the same journey. 

“It’s a closure experience for her,” Payton notes. “I can certainly say it was the same for me. There were some things that I had to have some closure with and really address in my personal life and this movie allowed me to do that.”

And when it comes to hearing from those who know Williams the best, the “Queen of Hot Topics” reveals in an interview with BET.com that while nothing is off limits in the movie and documentary, she doesn’t let people into her inner circle easily. However, there are two sources of comfort for her now that she has restarted her life at 56-years old in a lavish Manhattan bachelorette pad. 

“My cats. They’re not people but they’re like people to me. We quarantined together. I’ve only had them for a year and they see it all,” she says. “In reality, no one person knows me best. I show certain sides of myself to various people and that’s not a big panel of people.” 

The New Jersey native and “shock jock” media personality has hosted her nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, since 2008, which has been renewed through the 2021-2022 season by Fox Television Stations. She has been nominated four times for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Talk Show Host and continues to be a hot topic no matter how hard she tries not to. 

Wendy Williams: The Movie premieres on Saturday, January 30 at 8 PM ET, and the Wendy Williams: What a Mess! documentary premieres directly after at 10 PM ET.