Montel Williams | |
|---|---|
 Williams at the 2008Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Born | Montel Brian Anthony Williams (1956-07-03)July 3, 1956 (age 68) |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) |
| Occupation(s) | Television host, actor, motivational speaker |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Marine Corps United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1974–1996 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant commander |
| Unit | Naval Intelligence Naval Security Group |
| Awards |  Meritorious Service Medal Navy Expeditionary Medal Navy Superior Public Service Award |
Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host and actor. He is known for hosting the daytimetabloid talk showThe Montel Williams Show, which ran in syndication from 1991 to 2008. He currently hostsThe Balancing Act[1] andMilitary Makeover with Montel[2] airing on Lifetime. Williams founded the Montel Williams MS Foundation after being diagnosed withmultiple sclerosis in 1999. He is noted for his service in both theUnited States Marine Corps and theUnited States Navy, from which he retired after 22 years of service.[3][4][5][6]
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 3, 1956, Williams attendedAndover High School in neighboringLinthicum, Maryland, where he was elected president of his class in both his junior and senior years. He was a good student, athlete, and musician, and he was active in countywide student government issues inAnnapolis, Maryland.[7]
Williams was raised as aRoman Catholic and served as an altar server in the Catholic Church.
Montel's father, Herman Williams Jr., was a firefighter who in 1992 became Baltimore's firstAfrican American Fire Chief.[8] Montel's mother is biracial.
Williams enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps in 1974.[4][6][9] He completed the one-yearNaval Academy Preparatory School course and then in 1975, he was accepted as the first black Marine into the four-year officer training program at theU.S. Naval Academy.[3][5][9]
He graduated in 1980 with a degree in general engineering and a minor in international security affairs.[4] He completed Naval Cryptologic Officer training, and spent 18 months inGuam as acryptologic officer fornaval intelligence.[4] He was later supervising cryptologic officer with theNaval Security Fleet Support Division atFort Meade, Maryland.[4] It was there Williams worked for theNational Security Agency,[6] where he was involved in the U.S. invasion ofGrenada in 1983, known asOperation Urgent Fury.[4][10] On several occasions, he worked to secure the release of United States citizens—typically military personnel who had been captured in foreign lands—returned to U.S. soil.[4] After 17 years of active duty and five more as a reservist,[3] Williams retired in 1996 from theNaval Reserve at the rank oflieutenant commander[5] after 22 years of service.[3][4][5][6] His awards include twoMeritorious Service Medals, twoNavy Commendation Medals, theNational Defense Service Medal, theNavy Achievement Medal, twoNavy Expeditionary Medals, theArmed Forces Expeditionary Medal and twoHumanitarian Service Medals.[3][4][10][11][12]
As a civilian, Willams was again honored in 2008 with aNavy Superior Public Service Award for his "continuous support and recognition of Sailors, Marines and their families throughout his 17 years on television".[13]
Williams beganThe Montel Williams Show (syndicated byCBS Paramount Television) in 1991.[14] In 1996, Williams received aDaytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. Ratings for the show peaked during the 1996–97 season, with a 4.4 average rating. He was again nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002, and theMontel Williams Show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001 and 2002.
On January 30, 2008,Variety reported that CBS TV Distribution had terminatedThe Montel Williams Show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008–09 season.[15] On May 16, 2008, the last episode ofThe Montel Williams Show aired.[16] Speculation followed the end ofThe Montel Williams Show, which was canceled immediately after Williams criticized mainstream news media's preference for stories about Hollywood stars over those about military personnel and events. Commentators felt his statements may have alienated theFox TV Network.[17][better source needed]
On November 10, 2010,Oprah Winfrey invited Williams, along with former talk show hostsPhil Donahue,Geraldo Rivera,Ricki Lake, andSally Jessy Raphael as guests on her show. This was the first time that the fellow talkers had appeared together since their programs left the air.[18]
Williams work has been criticized by theIndependent Investigations Group, which declaredThe Montel Williams Show to be noteworthyTruly Terrible Television with its satirical TTTV award (for similar reasons, awarded to "every episode featuring Sylvia Browne").[19]
Controversial self-declared psychicSylvia Browne featured frequently onThe Montel Williams Show from 1991 until its finale in 2008. Williams described Browne as "the most-appearing guest on a talk show in the history of television" and "the longest-running guest in daytime television",[20][21] and her appearances included particularly controversial incidents relating to kidnap victimsShawn Hornbeck andAmanda Berry. Williams was criticized for allowing his high-profile show to serve as a channel for Browne, notably by fellow retired military officerHal Bidlack, with Bidlack publicly asking, "Commander Williams, have you lost your honor?"[22][23] In February 2019, an episode ofLast Week Tonight with John Oliver featured a segment on television psychics and Williams' association with Browne was criticized.[24]
Williams has also guest-starred in episodic television and off-Broadway plays. Among other roles, he portrayed aNavy SEAL, Lieutenant Curtis Rivers, in three episodes of the television seriesJAG. He also produced and starred in a short-lived television series calledMatt Waters, which appeared onCBS in 1996. He played an ex-Navy SEAL turned inner-city high school teacher.[25] In 1997 he played Lt Col Northrop, aUSAF nuclear missile silo commander, in the fictional movieThe Peacekeeper. In 2002, he played the judge presiding overErica Kane's (Susan Lucci) murder trial on theABCsoap operaAll My Children. In 2003 he made a guest appearance on the soap as himself to promote an episode of his own show on which severalAMC stars were scheduled to appear. In 2004 he hostedAmerican Candidate, a political reality show onShowtime. Williams has also guest-starred onThe New Adventures of Robin Hood andGuiding Light.[26]
Williams also appeared in a Perry Mason movie in 1993 titledThe Case Of The Telltale Talk Show Host. His character, Boomer Kelly, was a former football player who was appearing on a radio talk show whose owner was found murdered. He was also a voice actor in 2008 in the political satire filmWar, Inc., providing the voice of the main character's GPS tracking device/counselor.[27]
On October 1, 2019, Williams appeared in an episode of the Fox dramaThe Resident entitled, "Flesh of My Flesh". Williams played himself, as a TV personality covering a nearly impossible cancer surgery being performed on an adoptive mother of seven.[citation needed]
Williams produced and narrated the Starline Films documentary film4CHOSEN: The Documentary, which tells the story about the New Jersey Turnpike shooting in 1998, and the racial profiling case that followed the incident.[28][29] In 1999, Williams directed the film,Little Pieces, starring Grace Morley and Amy Acton.[30][31]
Williams was a national spokesman of thePartnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a patient assistance program clearinghouse that helps low-income patients apply for free or reduced-price prescription drugs. On November 30, 2007, while inSavannah, Georgia, to promote PPA, he threatened reporters following an earlier interview at which Courtney Scott, a 17-year-old high school intern reporter for theSavannah Morning News, had asked him whether restriction of pharmaceutical profits would discourage research and development of new drugs. Angered by the question, Williams retorted, "I'm trying to figure out exactly why you are here and what the interview is about," and subsequently terminated that videotaped interview; Williams later ran into Scott in his hotel and approached her, reportedly saying," 'Don't look at me like that. Do you know who I am? I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up".[32]
Williams's public relations representatives later apologized for his hostile outburst in an issued statement: "I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologize for my overreaction".[33] In 2010 Williams became chief spokesman for the Poker Training Network,[34] nowCard Geniuses, aMLM-based poker instruction and playing website.
Williams was a paidspokesperson for MoneyMutual, alead generator for apayday lending service.[35] In early 2015, a controversy around this position erupted when an education activist, André-Tascha Lammé, accused Williams onTwitter of supporting a company that harms African-American consumers.[36] Williams denied the allegations, stating that Lammé was fundamentally incorrect in his assessment of the loans and their terms.[37] TheNew York State Department of Financial Services then investigated the claims andBenjamin Lawsky issued a statement on March 10 that it "made no finding of a violation of law by Mr. Williams".[38] He added that the department had found that "Using Mr. Williams's reputation as a trusted celebrity endorser, MoneyMutual marketed loans to struggling consumers with sky-high interest rates – sometimes in excess of 1,300 percent".[38] SellingSource, theparent company, was fined $2.1 million and ordered to stop advertising to New Yorkers.[38][39]
Williams is an outspoken advocate for US military veterans. He has publicly lobbied for government action to promptly resolve theVeterans Affairs scandal.[40]
On April 6, 2009, Williams began hosting a daily radio show,Montel Across America, onAir America Media.[41] On January 21, 2010, Air America ceased broadcasting, leaving Williams without a radio outlet.[42]
As of May 2009, he started hosting aninfomercial for the Living Well Healthmaster, a blender product. It is presented under the titleLiving Well with Montel; the infomercial is structured similarly to his old talk show, featuring guests talking about their health problems, with the Healthmaster mixer being the solution. Later episodes ofLiving Well with Montel advertised a homepressure cooker and an identity theft protection service. In June 2010, Williams began doing infomercials forLifeLock, a security fraud company.[43]
On October 1, 2014, Williams spoke in front of a Congressional committee in support ofMarine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, who was arrested inTijuana, Baja California, for carrying guns across theU.S.-Mexican border.[44]
Williams was once aRepublican, leaving the political party in 1993 and registering as an independent.[45] He is a supporter of LGBT rights.[46] He endorsedHillary Clinton for president as the superior choice, writing thatDonald Trump posed a "clear and present danger" to the nation.[47]
On September 2, 2021, Williams was appointed as a Director on the Board of Better For You Wellness, Inc.[48]
Williams has marketedcannabidiol (also known as CBD oil) products. According toForbes, Williams "spent years working to develop medicinal-quality CBD to treat his ownmultiple sclerosis".[49]
Williams has two daughters, Ashley Williams (born 1984) and Maressa Williams (born 1988), with his first wife, Rochele See. Williams married Grace Morley, anexotic dancer on June 6, 1992.[50] They have a son, Montel Brian Hank Williams (born 1993), and a daughter, Wyntergrace Williams (born 1994). The couple divorced in 2000.
In 2001, Williams briefly datedKamala Harris, who later went on to becomeVice President of the United States after winning the 2020 election. Williamstweeted in 2020 that he had "'great respect'" for Harris.[51]
In July 2006, Williams proposed to girlfriend Tara Fowler, anAmerican Airlines flight attendant. They married before friends and family on a beach inBermuda on October 6, 2007.[52]
Williams participated in the 2007World Series of Poker main event,[53] and planned to donate any potential winnings to American families affected by theIraq War. He was eliminated on Day 2. During the event, Williams also spoke out about the port security bill signed in 2006 that banned online gaming sites from accepting money transactions from the U.S.
Four months after making a guest appearance in an episode ofTouched by an Angel, Williams was diagnosed withmultiple sclerosis in 1999.[54][55] In the following year, Williams created the MS Foundation, anonprofit organization with a focus on research and education.[56] Williams has openly stated that he usesmedical cannabis, stating it helps to ease his multiple sclerosis-causedneuropathic pain.[57] Williams has become a vocal advocate ofcannabis, supporting efforts to passmedical cannabis laws in the United States, as well as calling forfull legalization.[58][59] He has also said that snowboarding is his "best therapy" for multiple sclerosis, commenting that "When I stand up I need first to hold on to something and think about the positioning of my legs. If I were to just start walking I would fall. I have to get my brain to find my legs and then I will usually take a test step, but I say something at the time to anyone who might be watching to distract from what I'm really doing. Then I'll find places to grab as I walk and talk, sometimes even walking backwards because I have more control that way. People have no idea that I'm doing this. But when I'm snowboarding and my feet are strapped in, my brain seems to have a direct connection to my legs. After snowboarding it's night and day for my balance and walking. There's a real physical change before I get up the mountain and when I come down. The benefits last for days."[60]
Williams was hospitalized on May 30, 2018, when he had a cerebellar hemorrhagicstroke while working out at a gym.[61]
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