Wendy Williams Says She Loved Life 'Just Me and My Cats' After Kevin Hunter Divorce in 2020: It Was 'a 100% Fabulous Thing'

Wendy Williams had no qualms about her new normal following her split from Kevin Hunter.

In her first interview since her team revealed that she had been diagnosed with progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in February 2024 — just days before a bombshell Lifetime documentary about her then premiered — the former talk show host, 60, called into The Breakfast Club on Jan. 16, when she spoke with DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God, plus guest host Loren LoRosa, from her treatment facility.

Looking back at her life before her diagnosis, including her break up from Hunter, 52, after their 21-year marriage, Williams said, "To get divorced was, as far as I’m concerned, a 100% fabulous thing."

"When I got divorced, I had this lawyer. I got a divorce like no one else has gotten a divorce," she continued, before adding: "Look, it's bigger than that. When I got divorced, I moved to New York, as opposed to New Jersey. I was solo, just me and my cats." (Williams no longer owns any cats.)

Williams then said that working on her eponymous television show at the time helped keep her busy, but her heart wasn't in it. "For me, being on TV, I’m not going to lie, that was about money," she explained. "Radio is my root. To be on the radio, to me, is a Godsend, and I was doing such great stuff on radio."

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Williams split from her longtime love and manager Hunter in 2019.

“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,” a representative for Williams told PEOPLE in a statement at the time.

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Williams later claimed that Hunter fathered a child with another woman. While Hunter apologized to Williams in a statement and acknowledged "some wrongs," he never confirmed the allegation she made.

The pair — who wed on Nov. 30, 1997, and share son Kevin Jr. — finalized their divorce in 2020.

Related: Wendy Williams Claims She's Being Kept from Seeing Dad on His 94th Birthday as Source Says Guardianship Court Protects Her Safety

Williams was initially placed under court-ordered guardianship in April 2022. The arrangement was put into place after Wells Fargo froze her accounts because her then-financial adviser claimed that she was of “unsound mind." New York lawyer Sabrina Morrissey was then named Williams’ legal guardian.

The star's family has since spoken out against Morrissey, however, questioning the guardianship and her execution of the legal order. Williams’ sister, Wanda Finnie, told PEOPLE in 2024 that “all was cut off” between the former TV personality and her family after the guardianship began.

Williams’ call-in interview with The Breakfast Club marked the first time she openly spoke about the dementia diagnosis. Morrissey previously alleged in a court filing that Williams has become "cognitively impaired, permanently disabled and legally incapacitated” as her alleged early-onset dementia has progressed.

“Listen, this system is broken, this system that I’m in. This system has falsified a lot," Williams said during her radio show appearance, where she was joined by her niece, Alex Finnie.

“This is the reality. This has been our lives. But specifically her life,” Finnie added at one point. “She can call us, but we can’t call her. That’s been the reality since 2023. That room she is sitting in, she’s there every day, all hours of the day, every week, every month. She’s not getting proper sunlight. I went to New York in October to visit her, and the level of security and the level of questions that there were in terms of who am I, why am I here, what’s the purpose, it was absolutely just horrible.”

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