Wendy Williams opens up about her health struggles and how it has been living with Graves’ Disease
Wendy Williams opened up about how her life "has completely changed" after her Graves’ disease started "creeping back" on her last year. Wendy opened up about her health struggles in a video message that she shared at the Graves’ Disease & Thyroid Foundation 2018 Patients and Family Conference, as reported by Page Six. Wendy recalled that she had been controlling the disease with the help of medication but it happened to come back after she realized she was taking the wrong pills.
The television host opened up about being diagnosed with both Graves’ and thyroid disease 19 years ago, “and everything was fine. I had the radioactive iodine [medication], taking my pill a day, minding my own business.” But in July last year, she started experiencing some symptoms which she tried to reason out.
“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 added that her disease has forced her to give up on stilettos. “The doctors tell me it’s going to take at least six months — maybe a year — to level off my medication, which is why I always wear flats. I’m not wearing heels and falling and tripping,” she said adding that at times she loses her balance because of the illness. This is not the first time that Wendy has shed light on her health struggles.
Sitting with 'Good Morning America' for an interview, Wendy opened up about her Graves' disease and how her life changed for her since then. In a clip which was obtained by People, Wendy talks about how women tend to care about others more than themselves and it is something which needs to be changed. She believes that it is truly “unfortunate” when people forget to think about themselves. "We, as women, particularly if we have families, you know, we’re taking care of children, we’re taking care of, you know, our home, our husbands, we take care of everybody but ourselves," she said during the interview.
"And it’s really unfortunate. That is something that has no socioeconomic thing to it," she continued. "No matter what the woman’s status is, it seems like we’re all in the same boat." Amy Robach, who was the anchor of the show seemed to agree with Wendy as she added, "We take care of ourselves last."Wendy made it loud and clear that she was tired of putting others forward and wanted to focus more on taking care of herself and what she wanted. "Yeah!" Williams responded. "I'm not doing that anymore, Amy. Wendy first!"Yeah!"
Wendy had opened up about her health on February 21, when the television host had announced that she was taking a break from her show due to her battle with hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease. She took a break in order to ensure that her health is under control and to focus on getting better.