At least we’ll always have the “Shoe Cam” on the Wendy Williams Show. Wendy Williams, 53, opened up about “how she’s doing” since her Graves’ disease flared up last year. While speaking in a video message at the Disease & Thyroid Foundation 2018 Patients and Family Conference, per Page Six, Wendy said that the disease returned because she was on the wrong dose of medication. “I had the radioactive iodine [medication], taking my pill a day, minding my own business,” she said. “Then back in the fall or maybe around July of last year, I started feeling weird in the head but I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is maybe a casualty of menopause or we were ramping up for season nine of the Wendy Show.”
“So, it wasn’t until I passed out on my own show [in October] that…Anyway, life has completely changed,” she said. Wendy was diagnosed with both Graves’ and thyroid disease 19 years ago, and she’s been on top of it since then. So, what happened to cause the medical scare in 2017? Wendy says that she had been on the wrong dose! Thankfully, they were able to figure out the problem but it’s going to take a while before she’s back to 100%.
“The doctors tell me it’s going to take at least six months — maybe a year — to level off my medication,” she told the conference, “which is why I always wear flats. I’m not wearing heels and falling and tripping.” Wendy said she had to give up her stilettos because the illness sometimes leaves her feeling off-balance. Wow. So when the Wendy Williams Show comes back from hiatus on July 2 — it’s on break due to the World Cup — and she looks shorter, that’s why.
“When a person has Graves, their body produces antibodies that bind to the receptors on the surface of the thyroid gland, causing an overproduction of hormones, and resulting in an overactive thyroid,” Dr. Ranjeet Singh EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife.com when discussing Wendy’s condition. “Graves disease isn’t curable, but hyperthyroidism is generally controllable, and once the correct plan has been devised, treatment is usually successful.” Here’s hoping that after a year, when Wendy’s back on the right dosage of medication, she can return to wearing whatever shoe she wants.