Wendy Williams takes leave from talk show after Graves’ disease diagnosis

Wendy Joan Williams-Hunter, 53, host of "The Wendy Williams Show" since 2008, announced on Wednesday, February 21, that she would be taking a hiatus from the show due to her diagnosis of Graves' disease. The announcement was made on her show, where she stated that she would take three weeks off from the show, starting on Thursday, February 22.

Graves' disease explained

Graves' disease is an autoimmune disease, which causes the thyroid to produce too much of the thyroid hormone.

According to endocrineweb.com, this can lead to bulging eyes, anxiety, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, and more. The overstimulation causes the thyroid to produce too much of the thyroid hormone, which is also known as hypertension.

Graves' disease can be quite difficult to detect early on and is sometimes confused with other conditions. This leads to Graves' disease sometimes being hard to diagnose. Graves' disease is the most common cause of hypertension, which means that the two conditions share similar symptoms. However, Graves' may have some symptoms that hypertension does not.

Another symptom is unexpected weight loss, and in July of last year, rumors of anorexia were flying, which now looks to be another symptom of Graves' disease.

Wendy Williams is on hiatus

According to CNN, the announcement of Wendy Williams' hiatus was made on Wednesday that, starting Thursday, she would be taking a three-week hiatus from her talk show. During that time, she had stated that she would not have a fill-in host and that they would be rerunning old episodes of her show.

When making the announcement, Wendy Williams looked directly into the camera, speaking to her audience both in the studio and those who were watching at home, and said that she had been diagnosed with Graves' disease and that, though she had been seeing symptoms for a while, those symptoms are not always distinct enough for an early diagnosis. She also stated that her viewers had noticed an issue with her eyes before she did herself.

"My thyroid has been totally cattywampus," she said. "That is the eye thing that you all have been seeing."

She also canceled shows last week due to having flu-like symptoms, and four months prior, she fainted on live television of her Halloween episode. At the time, the official reason for the incident was due to her being overheated and dehydrated. Now, however, it would seem that it was due to an undiagnosed Graves' disease.

Williams' endocrinologist has ordered her to take a three-week vacation immediately, but when asked about the hiatus, Williams' said that she would be back in two, stating, "I'll be back in two [weeks]. I'm not an heiress. Who is going to pay my bills? Are you serious? I'm just saying, I come from working class."