Wendy Williams Jokes About Her Fainting, But Insists It Was Not A Joke

Update: Wendy Williams discussed the incident today on her show. She said fainting on-air was frightening, and felt something wrong earlier in the show. Williams says she was feeling "hot and a little dizzy … like something is about to happen."

She assumed she could make it through the rest of the live telecast."The crew brought out the clear plexiglass podium that you saw — we were about to do our Halloween costume contest. I was like, ‘All right, Wendy. At least you’re wearing flats and you’re holding onto this and there’s only 12 more minutes of the show. You can do it girl.' I immediately go to the teleprompter … and that’s when you saw me with the eyes."

Williams became emotional as she described how the incident made her feel. "It was really scary. It was so scary, all I could think of in the middle of the scare was, ‘Don’t pull the podium over on you, because that’ll make it worse.’"

Luckily, she is no worse for the wear. She says that a day later, she's not in any pain. "They told me that I went down on my booty first … rolled onto my back, then, boom — on my head. I have no headache, no lump on my head. At 53 years old, no aching in my body. I am shocked."

Original story: Anything can happen on live television. Anything. From the wrong movie being announced as Best Picture at the Oscars, to a news anchor going into labor on air, life doesn't stop just because the cameras are rolling. And this morning, talk show personality Wendy Williams was the latest celeb to take a stumble in front of the entire country. As in, she literally stumbled and collapsed.

Willaims was hosting a special Halloween live version of her show. She's wearing a seriously sparkly Statute of Liberty costume, complete with a giant green wig. As she was getting ready to announce the halloween costume contest guests, she said the word "caress" instead of "guest." That was the first indication that something was amiss.

She pauses her a second, purses her lips, and her eyes get really wide. Clearly, she is feeling odd. She stumbles backward, to the gasps of the live studio audience. After brief flailing, she passes out and hits the ground with a thud. The audience is terrified and producers rush into the set to help her. The cameras quickly turn to commercial.

But! She's okay. Williams explains that she got too hot in her costume and fainted. "That was not a stunt. I overheated in my costume and I did pass out."

Williams assured us that we don't need to worry about her health. "But do you know what? I’m a champ and I’m back!" she declares. Her publicist told Us Weekly in a statement that Williams was "dehydrated and is on her way home for a good day and night of sleep. She has been examined by medical professionals and is well. She is OK and will continue as shows as planned. She will address this on-air tomorrow. She has never missed a day of work and is looking forward on November 13th to her 1500th show."

At 1500 episodes, she is definitely a champ. Watch the videos below to see the fainting happen in real time. Here's hoping Williams gets the rest she needs.

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