Wendy Williams Says Divorce from Manager Kevin Hunter Taught Her 'Don't Just Rely on Your Team'
Wendy Williams is opening up about her former business relationship with estranged husband Kevin Hunter.
While speaking at a conference on Thursday at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina, Williams, 54, claimed Hunter used to keep her out of the loop during negotiations until the ink was dry.
“You’ve got to be at the ground floor of your operation,” Williams said in video obtained by The Blast. “I don’t care how big you get. … Don’t just rely on your team to bring back the information because you’re such a big shot and you don’t have to be there.”
“It used to be Kev and the team would show up, and then Kev wouldn’t bring me in until he knew, ‘Okay, the deal’s done. Now it’s time for you to meet the people,’ ” said. “Not now. I want to be in on the first conversation of the deal, and I want to be on every meeting until the deal is done. And that’s the way I roll.”
Reps for Hunter and Williams had no comment when reached by PEOPLE.
Williams filed for divorce from Hunter in April after over two decades of marriage. She has also cut ties with her ex 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.
The split unfolded after Hunter allegedly fathered a child with his mistress. He broke his silence on the cheating scandal in a statement to PEOPLE in April, admitting he was “not proud of my recent actions.”
“I am going through a time of self-reflection and am trying to right some wrongs,” he said. “No matter what the outcome is or what the future holds, we are still The Hunter Family and I will continue to work with and fully support my wife in this business and through any and all obstacles she may face living her new life of sobriety, while I also work on mine.”
RELATED: Wendy Williams Thinks Husband Kevin Hunter’s Alleged Affair Went on for 15 Years, Source Says
At the conference, Williams also advised female audience members to put their love lives and family plans “on hold” to focus on building their careers in their 20s.
“I am a wife and/or a serious girlfriend. I’m not one of these girls who, you know, ‘I don’t need no man,’ ” she said in The Blast’s video. “But take your 20s, and you be by yourself.”
A source recently told PEOPLE that Williams has “actually been in really good spirits” since calling it quits with Hunter and has been throwing herself into her work.
“She’s taking over her empire,” the source said. “She was kept out of the loop a lot. Wendy’s an executive producer on the show as well, but she’s the talent. Kevin was the one doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff and being a go-between for her and the show.”
“It wasn’t like people kept her in the dark on purpose, she just never asked,” added the source.
Williams has also moved on romantically: She’s been seeing Marc Tomblin, a 27-year-old convicted felon, for a couple of weeks.
