Behind The Scenes: "Wendy Williams: The Movie" Stars Spill All The Tea About Their Roles

**Morocco Omari as Kevin Hunter (Courtesy of Lifetime)**

Actors Ciera Payton and Morocco Omari, during a virtual press conference, talked about the love story that unfolds in the upcoming Wendy Williams biopic. “Wendy Williams: The Movie” premieres on Lifetime on January 30, 2020, at 8/7c, with the documentary “Wendy Williams: What A Mess!” airing immediately after the movie. (Be sure to scroll down to watch the trailer and view Behind the Scenes photos.)

Payton takes on the lead role while Omari stars as Wendy’s ex-husband Kevin Hunter. The authorized project provides a revealing look at Williams’ journey, from her scrappy upstart days in urban radio to the success of her own syndicated talk show. Despite all the naysayers and obstacles Williams encountered throughout her life, her strength and determination have allowed her to thrive.

Omari explains that his role in the movie was only to uphold the truth that Wendy wanted people to see about Kevin. “This is Wendy’s story, not Kevin’s,” Omari states. “I relied heavily on different mannerisms from several different Brooklyn men such as Fat Joe and Dame Dash to piece together Kevin’s character.”

Payton, on the other hand, researched Wendy until she became Wendy 2.0. She began her research with old radio shows, YouTube videos, and interviews so that by the time filming started, Wendy 2.0 was almost 100%. The final piece that helped Payton was a phone call from Wendy herself.

“My initial reaction was to ask all her all my dying-to-know questions, but eventually, I just stop talking just so Wendy could tell me her truth. At that moment, Williams went from talk show host Wendy Williams to just Wendy. She was everything from the tabloid, everything you’ve watched on her talk show but with 10 times more layers,” Payton explains.

Williams executive produces the biopic on her life, revealing the highs and lows she has experienced throughout the years. She has stayed on top of the ‘Hot Topic’ in the celebrity world for decades. Society is very celebrity-driven and the biggest assumption is that the people we watch on tv or in movies have perfect lives. Williams has been interviewing celebrities to show they are not examples of who we should be all the time. They make mistakes, they experience life and Williams wanted to capitalize on that.

Williams switched up the playing field when her name became the ‘Hot Topic’ by spilling her own tea, the good, the bad, and the “that happened to you?”. She gracefully showcases her hiccups at the beginning of her career to her reigning triumph now. Williams never claimed to be perfect and this film is evidence that she is far from perfection but very much raw, real, and 100% human.

Watch “Wendy Williams: The Movie” trailer:

“WENDY WILLIAMS: WHAT A MESS!” – JANUARY 30 – 10 PM

**Wendy Williams talks candidly in “Wendy Williams: What A Mess!”**

In this feature-length documentary airing immediately after the movie, Wendy Williams, the self-anointed Queen of all Media, sheds her private persona and speaks directly to the camera, discussing every inch of joy and humiliation she has experienced since childhood. From her apartment in Manhattan, we’re with Williams during the course of her divorce, as she deals with being a ‘Hot Topic’ and finds a way to right her ship again. It’s a raw, no holds barred look with never-before-heard truths about Williams’ notorious feuds with celebrities, her shocking divorce, her childhood, and the private darkness she has endured. This is the story of a self-made woman who finds herself at the start of a new life, uncertain of the future, but ready to reclaim her crown.