Wendy's Got the Heat [Paperback]

Wendy Williams (Author), Karen Hunter (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: August 3, 2004

She's the kind of media personality that artists love because she builds them up -- and fear because she can bring them down. She's interviewed many of the biggest names in entertainment -- Jennifer Lopez, Whitney Houston, and Queen Latifah among them -- and is known for her ability to disarm and get them to reveal their secrets. Known as both a "shock jock diva" and "the biggest mouth in New York," Wendy Williams is always at the top of her game, whether she's doing color commentary for the VH1 Fashion Awards or giving romantic advice on her daily drive-time show. But there's more to the Queen of Urban Radio than meets the mike. Wendy's Got the Heat is her story -- about growing up in a predominately white suburb, recovering from drug addiction, struggling to launch a successful career in one of the most male-dominated media industries -- and it's by turns painful, hilarious, triumphant, and totally true.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drug addiction, divorce, miscarriages, infidelity-such is the stuff of gripping biography-but the story of Williams' rise to radio fame is less than the sum of its parts, at least as it's told here. Williams, a deejay on New York R&B and hip-hop station WBLS, is something of a rarity in the industry: a top-rated African-American woman. She relates that she always felt like an outsider: "I was the black girl in a practically all-white school. And among the handful of blacks, I was the 'white girl,' the outcast." But she was sure great things were ahead. "I knew that one day my being different would pay off," she writes. While Williams goes on to explain that her success came through hard work and dedication, she doesn't show the nitty-gritty of her job-how a studio operates, how she came up with her style, what she actually does at work-which is a shortcoming in a book about a radio personality. Instead, Williams offers a very readable but standard-issue confessional autobiography, told in a smooth vernacular; she relates her long-term drug abuse, which began with marijuana in college and progressed to cocaine; her problems with men; her desire for happiness and success. The story might be inspirational for some, but it's not always deeply analytical: her drug use, for example, helps her realize that "getting high with muthafuckas doesn't do anything for you except give people something to talk about or worse. Nobody's going to stick around if something goes down. And nobody's got your back." This is an worthy tale, but it's best suited to serious Williams fans, who will welcome information on her hard-won sobriety, her liposuction and breast implants, her love for her son and her tips for keeping a man.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Amy DuBois Barnett Honey magazine With the incredible success of her daily program -- full of celebrity dish and frank advice -- Wendy is at the top of her game....The best part? Wendy achieved her success by being herself.

New York Post If you're dying to find out everything there is to know about radio scandal-monger Wendy Williams, she has a story for you.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Reprint edition (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743470222
• ISBN-13: 978-0743470223
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Radio > General Broadcasting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Mmmm, not feeling it! August 5, 2003

By Tiffany

Format:Hardcover

I love Wendy but I'm not feeling her book. She hyped it up to be sooo drama filled, that it's a bit disappointing to read. She doesn't gossip at all and that's what she's known for...dishing the dirt. She does none. She does talk about her trials and tribulations and at times the book will bring out your "pinkness" but for the most part, it's rather disappointing and boring. If you are interested in how to get into the radio business, this book is full of suggestions and ideas. If you never heard her show, her advice, although not uncommon can be helpful. If you listen to her show and the advice she gives, you'd be surprised at how she handles certain situations in her life. And although I respect her for admitting to the world that she had a drug problem and I know now that it consummed her life for a long time, it didn't deserve the four chapters she gave it. I just expected a little more. But all in all, I love Wendy and I still listen to her everyday, I'm just glad I didn't pay for that book.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't do it September 20, 2003

By lebellny

Format:Hardcover

As a person who listened to Wendy during her inital hey days, used her now defuct 1st and 2nd website (there is a 3rd) in all honest I must say this book was HORRIBLE.

I was expecting her to get down and dirty in her books like she has done to so many guests on her show. This was pure floss and was just an extension of her current show. I cannot believe how she disrespected everyone by using racial slurs in the introduction. As a avid reader I can say this is a waste of anyone's time. If your interested in a radio career read the introduction and your covered.

We all know she's a former addict, and we now know she's delusional to believe her own hype. Cheating husband and she accepted that and want women to think she was strong in doing so to keep her family together. Sorry but she's looks like a women with self esteem issues who was lucky enough to land on her feet.

Get it from the library.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat entertaining but shallow September 5, 2003

By eclectictastes

Format:Hardcover

I saw this book in my library and picked it up. Count this as a guilty pleasure read. I've listened to Wendy hype this book up so much on her show that my curiousity got the best of me. I wasn't expecting much so I wasn't disappointed.

Wendy Williams has always struck me as a study of contradictions... smart and driven but extremely shallow. She's practical but there's not much depth. She's a guilty pleasure representing the worst of our entertainment fixated culture and it's subsequent mean spiritedness. Her book does nothing to change that opinion. Williams recounts her career trajectory as she moves from Boston radio intern to queen of New York radio. In the process, she meets up with some bad romantic mates. She also makes enemies of powerful people in the entertainment industry and is "banished" to Philly. Eventually, she is welcomed back to New York with open arms.

I have to give it to Williams. She's not shy about putting her business out there as she does the entertainment people she covers. Williams gives off the essence of a nice middle class girl trying to be "hard" with a ruffneck husband. Still, one gets the feeling there are still issues that need to be resolved especially pertaining to Williams' self-esteem and marriage. Her story about her struggle to have a baby is touching but I lost count on how many times she writes about her physical beauty...methinks the lady doth protest too much.

Williams has not been shy about wanting to have her own television show. It will be interesting to see how far this ambition will carry her. Read this book to satisfy your curiousity but don't expect anything deep.