Wendy Williams filed for divorce from her husband of 20 years, Kevin Hunter

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For weeks now, I’ve been saying that the Wendy Williams tea went from scandalous to tragic in about one newscycle. It went from “Wendy’s perfect marriage is a sham, her husband’s a cheater” to “Wendy is an abused woman and her husband is a manipulative monster who impregnated another womanin about a day. It was awful. Yes, reportedly Kevin Hunter has had a mistress for years, and the mistress gave birth a few weeks ago. Kevin apparently manipulated Wendy into a sober-living facility while he dealt with his mistress’s labor and delivery. Wendy has also been struggling with a relapse of drug and alcohol abuse, and after she learned of Kevin’s mistress, she went on a bender that left her hospitalized and weak. For weeks, people have been trying to convince her to leave Kevin. Well, she finally has.

Wendy Williams is splitting from longtime love and manager Kevin Hunter. The daytime talk show host filed for divorce Thursday after two decades of marriage, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

“Thank you to everyone for respecting the family’s privacy during this time. Kevin is supportive of Wendy and they are working through this process together,” the personal representative for Wendy Williams told PEOPLE in a statement. “No additional comment will be provided at this time.”

A representative for her show released the following statement: “Wendy and her family have been a part of Debmar-Mercury for over 10 years,. We respect their privacy regarding personal matters. As always, we remain committed to bringing an entertaining and topical show to our viewers.”

Williams, 54, and Hunter, 46, wed on Nov. 30, 1997, and share son Kevin Jr., 19.

Earlier Thursday, Williams hosted her show without wearing her wedding ring — or mentioning any marital issues.

[From People]

That’s the official story, but it’s worth noting that Page Six has been breaking news on Wendy for a while, and their exclusive has further detail – their sources say that Wendy was wearing a fake wedding ring this week while she filmed her show, which is actually kind of boring gossip. The worst is that Page Six has a source who says that Kevin abused and terrorized Wendy at home and at work, and “She would hide in the bathroom and tell me to knock on the door when he left the office so she wouldn’t have to see him.” The unnamed former intern also told Page Six that is was quite common for Hunter to pull Wendy into a room, close the door and people could hear him slapping her. Abusive relationships… it’s remarkable that Wendy finally figured out a way to get the f–k out.

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65 Responses to “Wendy Williams filed for divorce from her husband of 20 years, Kevin Hunter”

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  1. Bryn says:

    Good for her!

    • Lisa says:

      About to say the same thing. I think she was going to do this anyway and just kept it quiet. She and her husband have a lot linked together. She had to do it in a smart and calculated way. Don’t let him see it coming. She didn’t wear her ring. And she was saying some cryptic things on the show that made me think she was getting her ducks in a row.

    • charo says:

      Finally. But when SHE’s the “talent” and he’s just the mgr., you’d think she’d have done this long ago.

      Her parents always look like lovely people and she says they’re great, so it’s hard to believe she “grew up seeing this.” It’s more likely the ego that comes with celebrity that made her want to pretend.

  2. Maya says:

    Sorry this woman is vile and I have nada sympathy for her.

    • Bryn says:

      No sympathy for someone who has apparently been abused, gas lighted and cheated on for years? No matter how bitchy she is on her show, she sure doesn’t deserve that. Nothing wrong with having sympathy for someone, even if they aren’t the nicest person.

      • redhead says:

        Yes !

      • Otaku fairy... says:

        Agreed. It’s still good that she’s out of this situation and focus on healing.

      • Lisa says:

        No sympathy because she said something not butt-kissy about someone they like. No other reason. If their favorite celeb was in this place it would be a very different comment.

    • Zapp Brannigan says:

      “was quite common for Hunter to pull Wendy into a room, close the door and people could hear him slapping her” No sympathy for an abuse woman? A physically, financially and emotionally abused woman, nada, no empathy or sympathy at all? She is not the only vile person here.

    • Snowflake says:

      Why is she vile? The only she has done is gossip about people ON HER GOSSIP talk show. WHICH SHE WAS HIRED TO DO.

      • Bryn says:

        The same thing we all come to this site for as well

      • ByTheSea says:

        I do have sympathy for Wendy in this situation, but let’s not pretend she just engaged in harmless gossip. Wendy was positively gleeful when something bad happened to someone. I still remember her reveling in Whitney Houston’s issues with drugs and Bobby’s infidelity.

      • charo says:

        I’d be more sympathetic if he didn’t seem like such a creep even outside of the cheating. He looks and acts like one, forget the cheating. But cheating is the last straw for many abused women who put up with other crap.

        Do we think he abuses the mistress? Or not?

    • Rebecca says:

      There has been gossip on the gossip sites for years about her husband and his mistress. I think she knew about the mistress, but not the baby. I think the combination of the ongoing abuse and the baby finally pushed her over the edge. Hopefully the sober living is helping her. Maybe the people she met there finally helped her get the courage to get out of an abusive relationship. Whatever the reason, good for her.

      • Original T.C. says:

        She knew about the baby. Black gossip sites had pictures for months of the pregnant mistress. Black YouTube posted pictures of Kevin’s (real name KeLvin) love nest. He put up the house for sale once he had been putted. And at that time, those same Black gossip sites reported that the mistress went into hiding with her family in (South?) Carolina. To escape Mainstream media showing pictures of her pregnant Belly.

        Wendy knew all of this and went on TV to say “All is well in Hunterville”. Google the episode. She was going to stay married as long as this info only stayed on Black gossip sites. Radio talk show host Charlemagne ‘Tha God’ gave an interview about KeLvin flying out Sharina (real name NIKKI) to family vacations.

    • Toot says:

      I have very little sympathy too. I don’t think anyone should be abused, but Wendy is a terrible person.

      She relishes other people’s misery.

    • Jb says:

      Says the women who comes to a gossip site to read GOSSIP on celebrities. Good lord get a grip and find your soul.

    • NotHeidisGirl says:

      Shouldn’t we know by now there’s no such thing as a perfect victim? Not liking someone doesn’t mean you can’t have sympathy, too.

      • whatWHAT? says:

        yeah, this.

        I got no love for Kim K, but I felt terrible for her when she got robbed in Paris. that experience sounded scary as F.

    • mamunia says:

      Being older than dirt, I’m grappling with the whole self hate, woman hating culture we have grown up in. I feel as if the me-too movement has pulled the blinders from my eyes in a major way. Women hating on other women has to stop if we are to move forward. We have a misogynist in the White House and the Republican scum are so happy to clutch their bibles and whoop for him.

      Wendy Williams was slapped around by her husband, people they worked with heard it repeatedly and did NOTHING. Why?

      Because women in our society Wendy, “deserve what she gets.”

      This is how we got here.

    • GirlMonday says:

      Maybe start with empathy. Imagine these things happening to you. Imagine the betrayal from someone you love and have a child with. Imagine the years of gaslighting. Imagine being hit in the face so close to where you subordinates are that they can hear it. Imagine the humiliation. Imagine having to hold it together everyday in front of millions of people. Imagine the fear. And then imagine someone dismissing your experience or worse, thinking that you deserve that, just because they don’t like you. There are a lot of ways to be vile.

      • jjva says:

        great comment, GirlMonday

      • stephanie says:

        I agree. I don’t believe Wendy is pathetic for staying the 20 years, I think she is stronger for enduring that crap for 20 years, surviving it and finding the strength to walk away. I’m sure KelVin would have continued this craziness for another 20 years.

        Also, Wendy is in the entertainment industry and she entertains people, I really view her as a playing a role on television. How is what Wendy does on television any different than our gossip blogs?

  3. LoonyTunes says:

    I hope it sticks. It may, but only because he’s more invested in the mistress and new baby.

  4. CROWHOOD says:

    The sheer fucking audacity of this man. Hope his baby mama still wants him without Wendy’s money.

  5. aquarius64 says:

    About time she dumped him. I hope she had an iron clad pre-nup with a cheater clause, especially if she may have to indirectly pay child support for her rat of a soon to be ex’s outside child. I can’t stand Wendy for how she went after Meghan but I don’t wish this on her.

    • Swack says:

      Why would she pay for his other child? She would not have to pay child support for their son since their son is 19. When I divorced my youngest was 19 and there was no child support because of her age. Now paying college tuition for her last year of college was another story. He was responsible for half of it. I doubt there will be any spousal support.

      • ByTheSea says:

        See K. Fed. The more successful spouse always ends up paying–even if indirectly–for the deadbeat’s new kids.

      • Alissa says:

        @ByTheSea That’s because him and Britney’s kids are underage. When they age out of child support, she won’t continue to pay child support for his younger kids that aren’t with her. Wendy won’t have to pay child support because her son is 19.

      • Yoyo says:

        @ByTheSea
        K-fed is not a good example to use, because Britney is back in a mental institution, if K-Fed was not constantly in their children lives who knows where they would be. He has been the one constant in their lives.
        Britney’s dad is having health problems, without him she falls apart and he is seriously ill.
        Sure Kevin should work and support his other children, but he doing the heavy lifting with the boys, and Britney can see and visit them anytime.
        Other parents would use her mental illness against her.

    • She’s already supporting the new child because the soon to be ex lives off of her. Apparently he just bought a Bentley, and the mistress is driving a new Ferrari. The best Wendy can do is cut him a check, cut her losses, and live a better life without him.

    • Lady2Lazy says:

      I don’t wish abuse on anyone and why she stayed all these years has me dumbfounded. I had read that she had hired a PI last year that revealed her POS husband was still with his mistress. Apparently she stated in her book, sometime in 2001, that she would only leave him if he had a child outside of the marriage. Apparently when she found out about the mistress and baby, she relapsed. Kevin was refusing to leave her, the mistress was giving him ultimatums, since she was the money maker and he couldn’t keep up that standard of living without her, or supply his mistress with the luxurious lifestyle he had created for the both of them.
      I am glad that she finally saw the light of day and pulled the plug. I also hope that he walks away with nothing, as she seems to have proof of infidelity.

  6. TheHeat says:

    Good for her.
    I am not a fan of her show, but I applaud her for finally finding the courage to break free.
    I would say that, after the ugliest of the details were out in the public, she felt that she no longer had anything to “lose”. My guess is that he manipulated her into believing that she would lose her career if she lost him, or that he would expose her addictions or whatever. Typical abuser behavior.

  7. xdanix says:

    Thank god. I have no love for Wendy, but that marriage was killing her. I hope she sticks to her guns and doesn’t take that loser back.

    • detritus says:

      By all accounts he’s moved in with his new family, a commenter on another board said he’s already bought the mistress a Ferrari push present and is living with her. So to top off all this other shit, he’s making Wendy to pull the plug.

      • Original T.C. says:

        Yep, saw the pictures of the mistress in her new Ferrari, with her new glamours hairstyle and sunglasses. Also pics of her being picked up by a Bentley. Lovely push presents. He is spending the family money on her before the divorce I guess.

        I don’t think Wendy would have left him if not for the mainstream media outing this sister wife situation that has been going on for a decade. Black gossip sites and YouTubers have been talking about it for a while. Even when it was revealed that the mistress was pregnant, Wendy was still standing by her man. I mean this man had bought the mistress a house blocks away from Wendy and would fly her out to every family vacation keeping her in a nearby hotel!

        Mainstream media made it hard for her to ignore, it embarrassed her for all to see her marriage was not as perfect as she says on her show. She became her own hot topic.

  8. Lauren says:

    She definitely deserves better – I hope this works out for her.

  9. Snowflake says:

    Ok, why the fuck didn’t someone bust in when they heard him slapping her? Wtf happened to common decency?

    • HK9 says:

      Why? Because people are cowards and don’t have the balls to do what’s right. As for me, I’m relieved she’s getting rid of him-it’s about fucking time. That relationship would have killed her had she stayed in it any longer.

    • Citresse says:

      A lot of people still believe family matters should remain private…..and what really, really upsets me is when child abuse is suspected, people still turn away. It’s wrong, so very wrong. If you see or hear something unusual please report it, you may be that child’s only hope.

      • pinetree13 says:

        THIS ! THIS! THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called the police non-emergency line a few years back because I was at a medical clinic and a woman brought in a baby needing treatment and she refused and then stormed out. Anyway, there’s more details than that but basically the medical receptionist was very young and didn’t phone it in so I immediately did. The police thanked me for reporting it and said they suspected child abuse.
        Anyway, the point is, I’d rather report something and it turns out fine than have one child be left to be abused.

    • BlueSky says:

      From what I’ve read over the years, he pretty much terrorized everyone who worked there. He was a bully and made for a toxic work environment. They were probably just as afraid of him as she was.

      Unfortunately this is the world we live in. People don’t want to get involved or are afraid to because they don’t want to lose their jobs.

      I think Charlemagne tha god mentioned (I think it was to Page 6 or on the Breakfast club)that to this day Kevin still tries to employ bully tactics in an effort to interfere with his work.

    • LoonyTunes says:

      Because she would’ve defended him, stayed with him and that person would’ve lost their jobs. Ask Charlamagne da god.

  10. Kiki says:

    Since Wendy Williams is telling most celebrities to find an “Italian Count”, she should go on her word. I am not really a Wendy Williams fan, sometimes she’s a straight shooter and sometimes she can say things that are uncalled for. However, I am glad she’s doing well and she should get a divorce from this “MAN” who has been nothing but a lying cheater who can’t control his mistress and using Wendy and her money. Let’s not forget, Wendy was wendy before Kevin and I hope he doesn’t get a dime from her. Period. Anyway, I wish her well.

  11. Nev says:

    Yayyyyyy Wendy!!!!

  12. Adorable says:

    Wendy Gossips(Which we do here)..Wendy has an opinion(Which we all have here)She just has a bigger platform,no I don’t always agree with her but she’s human,a woman in a toxic relationship who decided to get out so I say Bravo👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽.

  13. Barrett says:

    There is something I like ab her.

  14. Booradley says:

    I never watched her show, never really paid attention to her, but everything that I’ve read about her over the last few weeks has just been so tragic. It’s always heartbreaking when women stay, and so inspiring and brave when they find the courage to leave. I hope that she has some good friends and good support around her that she stays safe and she stays gone.

  15. Emily says:

    Good for her. I hope her son has been mostly shielded from this and that they can both get help.

  16. JRenee says:

    I hope she’s safe and works on her sobriety

  17. CityGirl says:

    Yay for Wendy!
    Like JRenee said: I hope she’s safe and works on her sobriety.

    I’m glad she found the strength to leave and file for a divorce. Now maybe he can go find a job and earn some of his own money for his second family instead of Wendy’s earnings.

  18. Deedee says:

    Yes! Good, gurl.should have done this eons ago.

  19. outoftheshadows says:

    She deserves a lot of support. That is very difficult to do.

  20. JoJo says:

    I can’t stand that hypocrite she had the audacity to tell people to leave their cheating significant others while she stays with a man who has been with another women for 10 years.She knew Kevin was cheating on her and didn’t give AF until the world knew.So stop making her out to be a hero or courageous.Another thing she has destroyed careers and hurt people by outing people regarding their sexuality,illnesses.

    • Wasabi says:

      Yes, Wendy is and has been problematic in many, many ways, still… it IS BRAVE of her to leave her abusive husband. Studies show again and again that it is the time when abusers are extraordinary dangerous.

  21. derpshooter says:

    I applaud anyone who drops 200 pounds of unhealthy weight. Go Wendy!

  22. Lena says:

    I saw that gold Ferrari he bought his mistress. How did he get away with that? Isn’t it marital property? I hope she ends her business relationship with him as well or his crap will be hanging over her forever.

  23. Imara219 says:

    She can get the same energy she gives. She read black celebrities for filth, not just fun gossip but really went in on people. Hon Judge Matthias interview is just one indicator of how toxic and negative amd hateful she is during an interview. She was ran out of NYC radio and out of black celebrity circles so she started pandering to white audiences by damaging her community.

    Having said all that….no one deserves to be abused so it’s good she got out. No we shouldn’t give her privacy when she does the exact opposite to others.