Reformed For Life

How’s Wendy Williams doin’? Happy, energetic and fit—and 50 pounds lighter—thanks to Pilates and a healthy lifestyle.

- Tess Ghilaga

When the opening music plays, Wendy Williams dashes through the double doors on the set of her eponymous show, now in its eighth season, to greet her studio audience and her 2 million at-home viewers. At 52, Williams looks and feels better than ever, thanks in large part to a healthy diet and a fitness regimen that includes Pilates. Here, she talks about how she went from being an overweight, reluctant exerciser to a fit and fabulous method fan.

SHE WAS ALWAYS THE “FAT GIRL.”

When I was in sixth grade, I remember my gym teacher weighing all the kids at the beginning of the school year. She screamed across the gym that I weighed 149 pounds. I was always very tall for my age and I’ve got big bones, but I will never forget how devastated I was.

SHE STARTED DIETING WHEN SHE WAS SIX.

Because I was the “big one” in my family, I’ve been on hare-brained diets made up by mother from the time I was in first grade. Like, I’d have tuna fish and mustard instead of mayonnaise, or yogurt and a half-sandwich with no cheese on whole wheat. It didn’t work.

SHE HATED EXERCISE.

My interest level in physical activity was zero. Zero. I was always last to be picked for the kickball and softball teams. But I had to do something, because my parents made me. I learned to swim when I was three years old, and I swam competitively. I didn’t love it, but I liked it enough. I would always undo any weight loss benefit by going to the vending machine and buying Scooter Pies while waiting for my parents to pick me up.

In college, at Northeastern University, I did no sports. And after graduation, I started a career in radio, which was perfect for a lazy person.

SHE GAINED MORE THAN 100 POUNDS WHEN EXPECTING HER SON.