Sherri Shepherd praised Wendy Williams for her “fearlessness” as a daytime talk host. “She’s up there with the greats,” Shepherd told Bravo’s Andy Cohen last night.
“She made her own path, but what Wendy does nobody can re-create,” Shepherd said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (see the clip above). “I love her fearlessness, and that is something I want to emulate and keep going. She opened a lot of doors and she’s up there with the greats.”
Earlier this week, Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, the producer-distributor of The Wendy Williams Show, announced that the Shepherd-hosted Sherri will succeed Williams’ show, which is expected to continue through the end of this season with rotating guest hosts, including Shepherd, as Williams is sidelined with health issues. Next fall, Sherri will make its syndication debut on the Fox Television Stations and broadcasters nationwide, inheriting the Fox time slots of Wendy Williams.
Shepherd had kind words for another daytime talker, Rosie O‘Donnell, her former co-panelist on ABC’s The View. Shepherd told Cohen that O’Donnell was instrumental in advising her on salary negotiations.
“Rosie told me how much she made and she told me how to negotiate,” Shepherd said, “and that’s why I say [to] women we gotta stop being scared to let people know what we make.” Shepherd said she was able to get a higher salary thanks to O’Donnell’s tip.
But fellow WWHL guest, Isaac Mizrahi, wasn’t completely buying it. “Rosie so did not tell you what she made,” a skeptical Mizrahi said. “She so undersold you.” Not so, Shepherd responded. “I did try to get what Rosie made and it was like ‘bitch you crazy.’”
Watch the exchange below.