Wendy Williams admits that she's still 'madly in love' with Kevin Hunter: 'You see it in my eyes'

Suzy Byrne
·Editor, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated

Wendy Williams may have filed for divorce from Kevin Hunter — and stepped out with a new man on both coasts— but it hasn’t made her instantly stop loving her longtime spouse.

While appearing at the Black Enterprise FWD Conference in Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday, Williams talked about moving on professionally and personally from Hunter, who also served as her manager and an executive producer on The Wendy Williams Show. She said it’s been hard because Hunter, who reportedly had a baby with another woman earlier this year, had been her biggest supporter.

“My husband and I were partners,” Williams told the crowd. “But I just had to clean the slate and start over.”

And while this is a new avenue — being single at 54 — she knows she can do it because she’s done it before.

“I didn’t meet my husband until my 29th birthday,” Williams said. At that point, “I was already a property owner. I was already a radio star. I was already the boss of my own life. So it’s not new — I’m returning to that life but with a bigger platform.”

While she proclaimed that she loves her new life — she’s been stepping out with a much younger man (with a questionable past) — she shares it is scary as well.

“I will say this: There was no one else that knew that I could do this,” Williams said of her success, according to the website The Grio. “[Kevin] was the one who told me I could do it. When Kevin entered my life, he was 23 and I was 29 and he was available. It was always me, my attorney and Kevin. His name wasn’t on the paperwork, but he was a huge part of that.”

She said. “Now, I cheer for myself, but I’m still madly in love with him. You see it in my eyes.”

Williams also said that, after dissolving The Hunter Foundation in May, her charity with her soon-to-be ex to help addicts, she’ll start up another one once she gets herself sorted out first.

“When I can get myself well, then I can give back, but I had to heal myself first,” said Williams, who relapsed earlier this year. “You can’t really help anyone or share anything until you’re whole yourself.”

Williams’s marriage drama has played out for much of this year. Amid reports that Hunter fathered a baby with his mistress, Williams filed for divorce soon after moving out of a sober living facility. Hunter was quickly fired from her show. He issued a vague public apology for unspecified “wrongs.”

It has since been reported that police investigated a tip that Hunter had tried to poison Williams, but no charges were filed. Hunter and the couple’s only child, Kevin Jr., also had a physical fight during which the 19-year-old was arrested.

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