Whatever Happened To Norman From The Wendy Williams Show?

Norman Baker was an integral part of "The Wendy Williams Show" for years as an on-air producer. As with many staff members, Baker was torn about saying goodbye to Wendy Williams when she exited the show in June 2022, as Sherri Shepherd took over the reins. "Oh my god, it's so bittersweet. I'm so sad, but also so happy that we're moving on with Sherri, but Wendy was the best. I will miss her so much," he told YouTuber Rainmaker NYC as he left the final "Wendy Williams Show" taping.

Mild controversy followed, as fans wondered why Williams, who had been away on an extended medical absence, was not a part of the final episode. "I actually don't know what the process was," Baker told BET in July 2022. "I wasn't really involved in those talks, so I don't really know exactly how that happened," he added. Earlier that year, Williams threw major shade at Sherri Shepherd while chiming in on her show being replaced. "I won't be watching her because I know what she'll be doing and that's not really my thing," Williams said in an interview with Fat Joe in May 2022 (via The Source).

Despite the friction between the two hosts, Baker stayed on as a producer for the new talk show. After Season 1, it was announced that Shepherd was cleaning house and replacing the producers. Baker pivoted and created a popular celebrity gossip page. 

A couple months after "The Wendy Williams Show" ended, Norman Baker stopped by Fox 5 Washington DC to give an update on what he had been working on. At the time, he was still working as producer for Sherri Shepherd's show, but his main focus was his popular Instagram account where he dished on celebrity gossip. "Everyday I do pop culture on Instagram. So I do like one minute round-ups of the day's pop culture stories," Baker said. Fans of the producer were eager to see him get more airtime. "Norman needs his own show..his personality is refreshing and warming," one YouTube viewer commented on the Rainmaker NYC interview.

Baker did not have his own TV show, but fans could catch a healthy dose of his bubbly personality on his Instagram page where he posts daily reels and introduces himself as "Pop culture expert Norman Baker. Let's get into the mess." On his page, Baker covers a lot of the hot topic issues, such as when Kandi Burruss departed "The Real Housewives of Atlanta." The long-time "Wendy Williams" producer also covered the news that Ben Affleck could be reuniting with Jennifer Garner on a project. "Jennifer Lopez better watch her man. He's working with his ex! Let's get into the mess!" he wrote in the caption of the February Instagram post. 

Fans often popped up in the comment section asking Baker to weigh in on Wendy Williams's health issues.

After being out of the spotlight for quite some time, Wendy Williams finally revealed what was going on with her health, as she had been diagnosed with dementia. "I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD)," Williams shared in a statement to People on February 23. According to a statement from her team, the former talk show host was coping well following the diagnosis. "Wendy is still able to do many things for herself," they said. 

Once that news broke, fans showed up to Norman Baker's Instagram page, and hoped that part of his celebrity gossip updates would include his former co-worker. "But please Norman, if you are able to, get in touch with Wendy. She seemed like she loved you and the feelings were mutual," one Instagram follower wrote.

Not long after, a four-part Lifetime documentary aired which covered Williams and her family since she had left "The Wendy Williams Show." One of the documentary's producers, Mark Ford, said they were unaware of how bad Williams's condition was. "But, of course, if we had known that Wendy had dementia going into it, no one would've rolled a camera," he told The Hollywood Reporter on February 26. Meanwhile, fans flocked to Baker's Instagram page hoping that he would chime-in on the ill-timed project. "[W]hat's tea about this WW documentary though," one fan commented one of Baker's reels.