Wendy Williams Being Forced To Take A Hiatus Is A Reminder To Take Care Of You

It's 2018 and Wendy Williams hasn't had a break since the 90's. Let that sink in.

You would think someone with a tax bracket like Wendy Williams would be able to afford a break every now and again. But, as the 53-year-old talk show host recently revealed, that isn't always the case.

Especially not her own.

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Yesterday, Wendy Williams took to her show to announce that not only has she not had a day off in 25 years, but that she's also battling Graves' disease, and per doctor's orders, she has to take time off.

"My doctor has prescribed - are you ready? As of today, three weeks of vacation. I'll be back in two. I'm not an heiress - who is going to pay my bills? Are you serious? I'm just saying, I come from working class."

The autoimmune disease, which affects the the thyroid, often includes symptoms such as anxiety, hand tremors, heat sensitivity, weight loss, puffy eyes, and more. And although Wendy didn't confirm or deny that her on-air fainting incident from October was a result of Graves', the symptoms do seem eerily similar.

What Wendy's confession did prove is that our income is relative to our expenses, and how we're living is based on what we make for a living. Long story short, mo' money, mo' bills, mo' problems. And although Wendy is part of the upper-class now, it's clearly difficult for her to shake her working-class approach to her fear of going broke.

But Wendy isn't the only successful media-personality who fears a loss in fortune and how it impacts family. Back in 2015, The Real's Jeannie Mai opened up about her fear of going broke after witnessing her father eating scraps out the kitchen garbage.

"The fear of not being able to take care of my family weighs very heavy on my heart. So much sometimes it gets in the way of me and my husband, it keeps me back from being able to spend a little more comfortably for myself. Because my parents immigrated here a couple years before I was born so we didn't have anything.

"I distinctly remember this time when my dad got laid off from his job but he didn't tell us, so I was going past the school office and I saw my dad talking to the administrators about getting a job as a janitor... I remember a couple days a week he would buy Popeye's chicken and he'd bring it home for us, and he would never eat with us, he'd say, 'You guys eat. I'm not hungry. I already ate lunch.' And I was like, 'Okay.' So we'd eat all the chicken.

"That night you guys, I went out for a glass of water after I went to bed, and I saw my dad going through the trash and taking out some of the- (cries) taking out some of the chicken. And I couldn't watch. Because I was basically seeing my dad go through the trash, you know?"

How heartbreaking. It's easy to understand how one could be traumatized from witnessing such a thing.

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However, as Wendy advises, although ambition is not wrong, balance is the key. After revealing her diagnosis, the host went on to give a word of advice for all women, warning them of the dangers of overworking and how it's not always worth it.

"What I want to say to women, more than men, is stop putting everyone first because if we're not good, they're not good."

When it comes to most industries, as women of color, our fight for a seat at the table is far different from that of the White, Black or any man for that matter. Truth be told, once we battle both tooth and nail to be considered in the big leagues, we have a natural fear of losing our spot. And that worry is bigger than losing the money to buy a bag, but rather, the money we use to pay our bills and that of our families.

Listen, we get it, girls just wanna have funds. But as Wendy Williams proved, sometimes the cost of being a boss is never having a day off. And unfortunately, the price we pay is our life. But as we learned here — a promotion in wealth is not worth a demotion in health.

You're no good to anyone unless you're good to yourself first.

Exhaustion and illness doesn't discriminate. Neither does time. So cash in on your vacation hours and take a break while you still can.

We're wishing Wendy a speedy a much-needed recovery.

Featured image by Robyn Michele Beauty via Wendy Williams/Instagram