Wendy Williams Says That Her Struggle With Lymphedema Is What Caused Her To Pass Out Mid-Show Last Year

When Wendy Williams passed out on live television during an episode of The Wendy Williams Show, the video quickly went viral. It was deemed one of the most bizarre moments to happen on-air in recent history. Now, Williams is explaining a little more about what exactly happened that day. She claims that it was because of her struggle with lymphedema that she collapsed mid-show, according to Fox News.

It wasn’t just that Williams fainted, but that she was wearing a Statue of Liberty costume when she went down. The costume was composed of a bright green sequin dress, a green wig, and a large headpiece. The outfit was in honor of Halloween. In that particular episode, Williams was standing on a plastic podium as she prepared to judge some of the Halloween costumes in her audience. When she felt the dizziness coming on, her eyes widened and she made a startling expression. She stopped speaking mid-sentence, stumbled, and eventually collapsed to the ground. The audience gasped in shock.

Initially, she blamed the incident on menopause, saying she felt a hot flash coming on and began to become disoriented shortly before the end of the show. As there were only twelve minutes left of the show, she thought she could push through. Paramedics later told her she was low on electrolytes, according to CNN.

“I’m a 53-year-old, middle-aged woman going through what middle-aged women go through if you know what I mean. The costume got hot. All the sudden right before passing out, I felt like I was in the middle of a campfire.”

But now Williams believes it was really her lymphedema that caused her to lose her balance. Lymphedema is a condition that causes swelling in the arms and legs. She is currently receiving treatment for the condition on a daily basis through an at-home machine that helps to keep the swelling down.

Williams was receiving treatment for lymphedema at the time of the fainting incident. However, she was reportedly given the wrong dose which caused her to experience dizziness.

“Then back in the fall or maybe around July of last year, I started feeling weird in the head but I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is maybe a casualty of menopause or we were ramping up for season nine of the Wendy Show. So, it wasn’t until I passed out on my own show [in October] that … Anyway, life has completely changed.”

In addition to this condition, Williams also has Graves Disease and has had to take time off from the show in the recent past to get treatment.