Wendy Williams Jokes She Was Asked to Be the Bachelorette: 'It'd Be a Nice Check'
Is Wendy Williams looking to rediscover love on reality TV?
The talk show host was asked on The View on Thursday about a rumor that she is joining The Real Housewives of New York City. Williams, 55, claimed that an entirely different reality series wanted her to be the leading lady.
“I think that’s juicy, because they also asked me to be the Bachelorette,” Williams joked to co-host Meghan McCain, who insisted she would watch the ABC series should Williams join.
“That may be better than the online dating,” said co-host Sunny Hostin.
“Laying up in the bed with 20 different men under a windmill?” Williams joked. (Last season, Hannah Brown was famously frank about repeatedly having sex with Peter Weber in a windmill Fantasy Suite.)
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Whoopi Goldberg reminded Williams she would be doing so while being filmed on national television.
“It’d be a nice check, all that, Housewives and Bachelorette., but no, I’m not that girl,” she told the panel.
Reps for ABC and Warner Brothers did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
RELATED: Wendy Williams Confirms Ex Kevin Hunter Has a Daughter
“Look, I’ve got the purple chair, I worked all my life to have that,” she continued, referencing her seat on The Wendy Williams Show. “I can say whatever I want to dispel rumors or start mess or make you laugh. But thank you for the offers. No, I’m not doing that.”
Williams also disputed rumors that her talk show, which returns for season 11 on Sept. 16, would be moving to Los Angeles or ending next year.
“No. I love what I do,” she said.
While Williams is optimistic about the new chapter in her life, the past year has been anything but easy for her.
The talk-show host filed for divorce from her manager and husband of 21 years, Kevin Hunter, in April, after she learned that he was allegedly having an affair and eventually welcomed a daughter.
She also cut ties with him professionally; he was removed as executive producer of The Wendy Williams Show, and she dissolved The Hunter Foundation, the non-profit organization the couple founded in 2014.
Prior to her filing, Williams — who has struggled with a cocaine addiction in the past — revealed on-air that she was living in a sober house.
In her interview with The New York Times Magazine, she said that learning of Hunter’s affair and child was a major part of the reason she decided to move into the sober house.
“I’d done my detective work. I knew what was about to happen, and I was like, ‘Let me go someplace where you’re not allowed to have the whole bottle of wine,’ ” Williams recalled. “When you see your husband’s mistress with a burgeoning belly and you’re a blabbermouth on TV with a successful show, you know what’s about to happen. I needed to go someplace quiet.”
“My husband was about to have a baby, and I knew that I was about to divorce,” she added. “I knew that there would be headlines. I had to process it so that once I came out, I came out on top. I didn’t work for three decades to land at the bottom over some [expletive] like this.”
Despite how their relationship ended, Williams explained to the women of The View why she will not speak negatively about Hunter in public.
“It’s not just about young Kevin,” she said, referring to their 19-year-old son, Kevin Jr.
RELATED: Wendy Williams Is Dating a Doctor After Being Linked to Convicted Felon: ‘I’m Crazy About’ Him
“It’s about — you know, Kevin’s not a bad man,” she continued of her ex. “But you just can’t throw away 25 years and then start talking recklessly about the other person. Otherwise what does that say about you? I chose him and he chose me. So that’s the way it is. … It’s now time for me to move with my life. I didn’t even go back and forth with, ‘Oh, do we stay? Maybe there’s a marriage counselor.’ No, no. You do this, get out.”
In early July, Williams teased on her show that she was dating a doctor: “I am not going to say one more word. You’re not going to blow this for me. But he’s been married, his kids are in their 20s. And yes, he’s black. I know you’re wondering.”
The Wendy Williams Show returns for season 11 on Sept. 16 (check local listings).
