Days after news broke that Kelvin Hunter was looking to get his alimony payments reinstated or else face eviction, Wendy's no-good ex husband sat down for an interview with the Westside Gazette, where he spilled the tea on how he and his wife ended their marriage, and is taking credit for a lot of The Wendy Williams Show's success.
Here's a few interesting excepts from the interview, which you can read below...
On Creating The Wendy Williams Show Concepts:
Kelvin Hunter Sr.: We had a vision and I didn’t want anyone at the show messing up the vision. They couldn’t hang money over our heads and tell us to just do something because we showed up with money. We were already iced out, already driving the Lamborghini and Ferrari or what have you. So their money didn’t make us, we made us. So early on during production Debmar-Mercury had no idea about the culture Wendy embodied. That culture that they use to frown on and say people didn’t want to hear about Hip-Hop and all that. However after a while Hot Topics, which I created, became nothing but about Hip-Hop Artist. I told them quick that they were over killing it and that Hot Topics had to be more defined and we did that. To Wendy’s credit she was talented and had the longest monologue on TV including Daytime and Night time. Wendy’s monologue lasted between 18 to 24 minutes, that was almost the entire show. That’s a long time to just be sitting in a chair talking. Yo, the purple chair was her idea, dope idea and she held the audience for sure. When I look back at what we did for an entire decade it makes me upset.
On The Wendy Show After He Was Fired:
Kelvin Hunter Sr.: It’s clear to say that after I left, the show tumbled hard. My intellectual property of the creation of The Wendy Williams Show and how it had to come across was key. They would not have experienced the success they had without me. Wendy brought in 1.3 to 1.8 Million viewers daily. Once I was gone the people around her had her looking crazy sitting on that screen.
They certainly didn’t care that she kept getting the help that she needed away from TV, but I cared, I always cared. My heart was always in the right place about her. Yes, we had our problems but it was so personal of what I and she built. That’s why all the Hot Topics suddenly was about me. They tried their best to make her feel like, you can be tough and have power over him, to be really mean but she could not front and it was killing her inside. Wendy wasn’t built like that. When I was around Wendy’s day ended when she left that building but mine didn’t. There was always something that needed to be done or a call that needed to be took. I was the common denominator in every department, including decor, wardrobe and guest. You know Yo, my thing is this, with all of the things she accomplished and as influential as she was, they chose to make everything about the scandal. The Life Time Movie and the Documentary, it was all about the scandal and that’s pathetic.
Kelvin Hunter Sr.: Wendy was coming out of rehab, we were going through a divorce and the news of my baby came out. I wasn’t going to miss the birth of my daughter and people saw me at the hospital. Truth be told we should’ve got a divorce ten years earlier. Even our son, Kevin said that to us. But anyway when the news was out I told her I would step down from the show and Wendy told me I need to stay because I was having a kid. I stayed, only to later be lined up.
On justifying cheating on his wife with Sharina:
Kelvin Hunter Sr.: I get that the fans feel that I was sneaking around and that I hurt Wendy. But in reality Wendy had caught me years before with Sharina and I came clean then and I asked her if she wanted to end the marriage and she didn’t so we stayed together. I have often wondered would it have been better to just end it then. I was too afraid of what would happen to Wendy if I wasn’t there. Now that it’s ended in divorce I can say that I am healthier, happier and I’m no longer dependent on marijuana. I’m no longer hiding my relationship and I have a beautiful daughter named Journee. It’s three years later, so I am not one to make excuses, but until a person has lived in a relationship with someone with multiple addictions it’s easy to say from the outside what a person should have done but until you live it nobody knows. In the beginning I had a wife who was a well-known radio personality and when I had the idea of taking her to television, neither of us were prepared for that level of success. I can honestly say that I was confident that the show would be a success but I had no idea what worldwide stardom would do. The amount of scrutiny and pressure that would come and the everyday stress and demands getting Wendy ready to do the show became a struggle. I saw this every day and I was unable to help my wife kick these habits. Everyone else got to go home after the show. I had to prepare for tomorrows show, then go home and try to keep my wife from ending up in a position where she couldn’t work the next day. Looking back I now realize that I was living life like the countless spouses of mates with addictions. That’s a life that only another person in that position would understand. Because of addiction and stress I slowly transitioned from a loving husband who managed his wife’s career to the executive producer protector and manager of the Wendy Williams Brand. I didn’t have anywhere or anyone I could go to when I needed to just relax. The reason I gave credit to my lady in my recent post is because in the moment I was speaking I reflected on the heavy load I was carrying every day trying to just keep Wendy alive and functioning. And in that moment I saw that there is no way that I or Wendy would have made it if I didn’t have her to turn to. Where do you go when you are helpless and you can’t stop the person you love from hurting themselves and when watching them hurts you too?
On Charlemagne Tha God introducing Kelvin to his future mistress:
Kelvin Hunter Sr.: Yes it’s true. We dug each other and ended up kicking it. She was there for me when I really needed someone to talk to and it blossomed from there. So, Charlamagne or Lenard McKelvey is a long story with plenty truths that haven’t come to light. I gave him his start by bringing him up from a South Carolina radio station and put him on Wendy’s radio show, which was the number one show in America’s largest market. She didn’t like the idea initially but as her numbers grew his name grew a lot as well. Mind you, I let him live in my condo for free for like 6 or 7 years just helping him as much as I could, like a little brother. It wasn’t our family home or nothing like that so it was cool. In reality Wendy told me early on that Charlamagne was not who I thought he was. She turned out to be right. I’ll go deeper into his many stories in my book. For instance I didn’t know about the whole underage girl situation he got himself in that he admitted to on The Breakfast Club. I didn’t know about that until our friendship was over but I’m not even talking about that. You mentioned something earlier about destiny hunting and yes it hunts everyone. Just know that Charlamagne is not who you guys think he is. Yo, everybody got secrets.
There's no denying that Kelvin's street smarts definitely kept the vultures away from his wife to a point, and as her manager he handled all of the business deals, but he still ain't shit for how he had Wendy out here looking like the fool while he was living another life with his mistress.
I honestly don't think he had love for Wendy the same way she had love for him. I believe he was in love with her money and her lifestyle, because he used said coins to shower his mistresses, including his current one Sharina (who he shares a child with).
If you care you can read the full interview here