The Wendy Williams Experience

by Wendy Williams, Karen Hunter

In the dishiest book of the year, the top-rated and controversial radio host delivers the good, the bad, and the ugly on the industry's biggest stars. But we'll let her speak for
 
Whitney "We have watched her go from our princess...to what looks like one step above a crackhead."
 
Lil' "[She] started out as a black girl from the hood and now she's posing as a white girl from Hollywood."
 
Mariah "Mariah will deny all day that she has ever had any plastic surgery...Check the before-and-after photos."
 
Star Jones and Al "I give it three years."

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir, African American, Humor

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Wendy Joan Williams is an American media personality and New York Times bestselling author. She hosts her own syndicated talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. Williams is known for being a former DJ in New York City, where she gossiped about entertainers and conducted celebrity interviews. Williams gained notoriety for her on-air spats with celebrities. Her books include the New York Times bestseller The Wendy Williams Experience, and she writes a weekly column for Life & Style magazine.

Reviews

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a yawn fest

[Kellie Selberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book came out in 2005 it is still a fount of knowledge and to me it is like a HISTORY BOOK. How did I not know Wendy Williams is the person who broke the story on R. Kelly? Or that Whitney Houston is the person who coined the slang term “receipts”.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wendy Williams is an icon and unapologetic. Her impact on pop culture is undeniable. I loved learning more about who she is at her core and the start of her career. The things this woman has seen and done in her lifetime!

[Arica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learned some gossip I did not know... but she didn't give names to the REALLY juicy stuff I was hoping for after reading the book jacket. And it was written in 2004, so it's dated and "old news" for a lot of people.

[Josephmillermusic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems very thrown together. Like she got a lot of offers to write a book after the Whitney interview so she just scrambled some shit together. There are some juicy bits but nothing you wouldn’t already know. Probably.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ahhh, my fellow Cancerian…
I miss Wendy. Didn’t realize I needed a Wendy fix, but I did.
This book was juicy! 😗

I pray she’s able to get out of whatever the heck they have her in right now.
And hearing about her husband in this book really makes me sad as to how everything turned out

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Wendy Williams and her radio show so I'm very biased towards anything she does. She could copy the back of a cereal box and I wouldn't probably rate it well. I've been listening to the Experience back before it was called the Experience.
I've read a few of her other books, fiction and non-fiction and already own what I haven't read.
I expected this to have more dirt in it. Most would label this under "tell-all" and that's not what it is in my opinion. The Whitney interview, which I think was included in full, was a riot. The Suge Knight interview, which was NOT in full, wasn't as great as she made it out to be but both I had missed on air so I'm glad she included them here.
One of my favorite things about Wendy is how honest and down to earth she is. She stressed that here which I felt she didn't have to really- any fan of hers is well aware of that fact. But that does shine through her words even without her going over it.
The most disappointing aspect of the book is something that I've never picked up on about her before and that's that I think she's a racist. She goes on and on in her life about NOT being racist yet some of the things she does and mentions just strike me as odd.
She seemed to totally agree with Ray Benzino (co-owner of The Source and wanna be rapper) when he said negative things about Eminem. If you don't like Eminem fine, but don't say things like what was stated in this book. Benzino alluded to the fact that if (if???) Eminem were to be accepted by the black community that it would take away from all the poineers of rap. What he didn't say however, was exactly HOW that would happen. "I have nothing against white rappers."- a quote from Benzino.
Benzino is pissed because he wishes he were where Eminem is at. So, he takes it out on Eminem through The Source. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. But I don't think Wendy should have co-signed like she did. I don't know why people have to make everything a black and white issue. If people would stop doing that the world would be a much better place.
Just for purposes of my own I want to state that when Eminem blew up the entire region of Philly was blasting his music, on the radio, his CDs, everything, all over- the ghetto, the suburban sections. Benzino states that the hood hasn't accepted him yet I heard Em playing munerous times in neighborhoods Benzino would probably get robbed in. Go figure.
Anyway,as much as I love Wendy, and I still do, I think she faltered a little there. She should have stood up for her beliefs, whatever they may be, instead of agreeing with everything that came out of this racist little mans mouth. I don't care if the mouth id white, black, green or blue- it doesn't matter.
The book is decent though- she's thorough though- she added some older pictures of herself before her surgeries and I know those babies would have been burnt up a long time ago. I liked seeing them but it couldn't have been me.

[Lucysnow1851 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extreme guilty pleasure, this book looks at Wendy's radio show, "The Wendy Williams Experience." It talks about how she approaches interviews, her most famous interviews (and excerpts from them) and issues in the hip-hop community. I read this in THREE DAYS. Yep that good!

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the interviews.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this strictly for the interview where Whitney Houston properly SERVED Wendy. Tis all.

[RYCJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fast-paced and very honest, and then again it wasn't... considering all the times I stopped to utter... o Me o My. Wished I had more to write.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Wendy, you'll enjoy this book. It's a little all over the place but a fast read.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy listening to Wendy and this was no different. I can't wait for the day she's old and gray and decides to name names :)

[Kelsey Kreamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated but it has the classic Wendy Williams style

[auntie social · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the highest rating I’ve ever given to a book written by someone I find to be a terrible person. Before reading this book I knew very little about Wendy Williams. I had seen her show a few times and I had recently watched the documentary about her conservatorship- which I empathized with. Because of that, I felt about Wendy the same way I did about Britney Spears- I wasn’t particularly a fan of her work but I saw her as a strong and successful woman who has been victimized. Reading this book gave me a much more detailed picture of Wendy as a person, and she’s awful. She’s incredibly homophobic, anti-woman, fatphobic, and throughout the book defends abusive men- including being a rape apologist and victim blamer. She says what Kobe did wasn’t rape because the victim went to his room willingly, blames women for what they’re wearing or putting themselves in bad situations… at one point an 18 year old young mother writes her for advice and says her 21 year old baby daddy is mean and abusive to her and Wendy goes off on a tangent about how women who run their mouths shouldn’t be surprised when they get hit. Then proceeds to tell this young lady she has nothing to offer a man and that at 18 and a mother she ain’t no prize- basically. I was horrified. After reading this book I did look up some info about Wendy and discovered she’s very problematic and known for being super homophobic- including outting many gay men- or at least accusing them of being closeted. Very gross behavior. She also implies in her book that dating a bisexual man will just get you AIDS. I don’t need to go on and on about these personality traits because I think most people who are going to read Wendy’s book are likely more familiar with her work and history than I was so proceed at your own risk- or enjoyment or whatever. The reason I still gave this book a 4 despite coming to the conclusion that Wendy is actually a pretty bad person is because it is so salacious and entertaining. It is well written and packed with celebrity stories that are fun to read- even if they are riddled with Wendy’s judgmental criticisms and finger pointing. It was still very interesting to learn some of these stories. There was a lot more about Diddy than I was expecting, all of which was very eye opening and not the least bit surprising- given recent allegations of his parties and trafficking women etc.

[Gabriella Mastrelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wendy is a funny one; sometimes she’s likeable and very wise, other times distasteful and crass. For me it seems like she’s a sociological reflection of society and media at any given time. This book was written in the mid 00s, and it’s interesting to look back on what issues in pop culture everyone was consumed by, what was considered acceptable to print and how Wendy perceived these things. Some parts are interesting and thought provoking, other parts are gratuitously vulgar.

[LBR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under the guise of an "autobiography", this is merely a string of interviews that dishes celebrity gossip more than anything substantial about Wendy. While entertaining and stimulating, there is not much depth here. The book's redeemable quality is that it reads more like a history textbook of hip pop culture of the early 2000s, as it discusses the prevalence of Diddy, the significance of Suge Knight, and more. But in terms of any having any introspection, or vulnerability as it pertains to Wendy- there is none.

Instead, it has chapters on "how to be a baby mama" and other concepts that link superficiality/consumerism as "success" in the black community, which I feel sells them short. There is a mild social commentary on what the hip pop industry has done for Black America, for better or worse, but overall I would say this book is very topical and could have been written better, as Williams was a pretty big influence at the time of its release.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Wendy-I love her show, her advice and her opinions. Even though this book was pre-The Wendy Williams show, it had some great interviews and stories told in typical Wendy fashion. It was actually pretty interesting to read through the Whitney Houston interview. Since the book is now outdated, I would say it's not a "must read" but true Wendy fans can still appreciate it.

[Arobot1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast & Gossipy read

This is a fast read..wendy doea what she does best..provides light insights into her life while going hard on others. This was before the divorce and I am sure she would change some of the chapters. I liked the book..but am happy that Wendy has evolved.

[Shatika Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Wendy Fashion

She's gossiping as always BUT I will not deny that she spoke a lot of truth about certain things. Overall it was a good book.

[Malcolm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this book at a library sale and was intrigued. Total waste of my time!

[Joey Loya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the behind the sense perspective and learning more about Wendy's rise to fame. Very inspiring and insightful.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun easy read.

[Ingrid Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was not what I was expecting at all, but I ended up liking it. It felt like a throwback to a time when I wasn’t born and of course I lived for the tea. Liked it, it was alright.

[Barbara Scaff · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 2 decades old drama but Wendy is hilariously UNHINGED!

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guilty pleasure

[Sam]

Iconic

[Campbell]

There will never be another Wendy Williams this woman is an icon a legend and she is the moment now come on now!

[Carolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved to hear Wendy’s voice again! Loved all the short stories and reenactments

[Doug Vargo · Rating 4 out of 5]

👀👀