Wendy Williams told viewers through a combination of smiles and tears what happened during her fainting spell in front of a live audience on Oct. 31.
She said that a strange feeling came upon her as she was discussing with her producer what they were going to do after the commercial break. She began to feel hot and dizzy, and started tuning out what her producer was saying.
“It was scary. It was really scary,“ she said, crying. ”All I could think of though in the middle of the scare was ‘Don’t pull the podium over on you[rself] because that’ll make for worse.’”
However, she said that she still thought she could get through the remaining 12 minutes of the show.
She emphasized that the incident was not an act or prank.
“I don’t do stunts and jokes for you like that. I don’t need that,” she said. “I’m a tall woman and it’s a long way down.”
Williams said that she just felt really hot in her Halloween costume, and also hinted at that she had had a hot flash related to menopause. Her collapse was not due to a stroke or heart attack, she confirmed.
“I’m a 53-year-old middle aged woman going through what middle aged women go through, if you know what I mean. The costume got hot. All of the sudden, right before passing out, I felt like I was in the middle of a campfire,” she said.
The talk show host was dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume at the time. Addressing the chaos that followed both in the audience and backstage with her staff, she said everyone was very worried for her. She was taken back to her office where paramedics ran tests on her. They attributed her fall to a lack of electrolytes, she said.
The show cut to a long commercial break and Williams recovered in time to finish the show.
