Photo: Jason DeCrow/The Wendy Williams Show
Sherri Shepherdhad to miss her Monday guest-hosting gig onThe Wendy Williams Showafter undergoing emergency appendicitis surgery on Sunday night.
“Due to appendicitis, Sherri Shepherd underwent an emergency surgery yesterday,” a rep for Shepherd said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “The procedure was successful and Ms. Shepherd is doing fine and resting.”
The statement continued, “She is absolutely devastated that she will not be able to guest hostTheWendy WilliamsShowtoday, but she is following doctors orders and expected to make a full recovery. Thank you all for understanding and respecting her privacy.”
Rapaport, 51, also explained Shepherd’s absence at the start of Monday’s show, telling the audience, “Sherri was supposed to host today, unfortunately, she had appendicitis.”
“She’s fine, she is fine, she had to go to the hospital last night for some emergency surgery,” he said. “She’s feeling fine today and she is resting. Get well soon Sherri, everybody loves you!”
Shepherd thanked Rapaport on Instagram after the show aired,writing, “If you watched the @WendyWilliams show today, you saw the news about my emergency surgery. Thanks to @MichaelRapaport for stepping in for me at the last minute!”
Shepherd haspreviously guest-hostedepisodes ofThe Wendy Williams Showand is scheduled to be a guest host againin late January, as original hostWendy Williamsremains absent due to ongoing health struggles.
Wendy Williams.Michael Tran/FilmMagic
Season 13 of the show kicked off on Oct. 18 without Williams, 57, and the premiere, originally set for Sept. 20, was first pushed to Oct. 4 after Williamstested positive for a breakthrough case of COVID-19amid otherhealth concerns.
When the premiere date wasdelayed once moreto Oct. 18, the show said Williams had recovered from COVID-19 but was still battling other health problems.
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A later update revealed that guest hosts would begin taking over the show, as Williams was experiencing"serious complications"due to Graves' disease, an autoimmune disease that results in an overactive thyroid gland. (Williams previously took anextended hiatus from her showin May 2020 due to the condition.)
A series of stars have appeared in her place since then, including Rapaport, Shepherd,Whitney Cummings,Jerry Springer,Bill Bellamy,Leah Reminias well asFat Joe and Remy Maand various panels of guest hosts.
TheWendy WilliamsShowairs weekdays (check local listings).
source: people.com
