Who Is Bert Girigorie? A Closer Look at Wendy Williams’ First Husband

Bert Girigorie is a name that keeps resurfacing whenever fans dig into the early relationship history of television and radio host Wendy Williams, and for good reason: he was her first husband, the man she married in 1994 before her career exploded into the talk show phenomenon most people know today. Unlike Kevin Hunter, the husband whose marriage to Williams played out publicly for over two decades and later dominated headlines during their divorce, Girigorie belongs to a much earlier and far less documented chapter of her life. He was never a public figure by choice, he did not work in entertainment, and he has spent the years since their short marriage building a career far from cameras and tabloids. Yet his name still draws curiosity because Williams herself has referenced him, first indirectly through a pseudonym in her memoir and later more directly in interviews and a documentary, which has left fans wanting to separate the confirmed facts from the guesswork that tends to fill in gaps online. This article pulls together what is actually known about Bert Girigorie, sourced from Williams’ own writing, on-the-record interviews, and reputable entertainment reporting, while clearly marking anything that remains unverified.

Quick Bio Table

Early Life and Background

Detailed information about Bert Girigorie’s childhood and upbringing has never been widely reported, which is consistent with the fact that he was a private citizen before his brief marriage to Williams and has remained one since. Some entertainment blogs list a birth date in the mid-1960s and a North Carolina connection, but these details come from unofficial biography aggregators rather than confirmed public records, so they should be treated as reportedly accurate rather than established fact. What can be said with more confidence, based on reporting that traces his career history, is that Girigorie built his professional life in sales and marketing well before he crossed paths with Williams, and that this career path continued long after their marriage ended.

By the early 1990s, Girigorie was working in the radio industry in New York, reportedly as an account executive at Kiss FM, one of the stations where Williams was also building her on-air career during that period. Radio in New York in the early 1990s was a tightly connected world, and it is through that shared professional environment that the two are said to have met. This detail matters for understanding their relationship because it places Girigorie not as an outsider drawn into Williams’ fame, but as someone already embedded in the same industry, working behind the scenes on the business side while she was on the air. That distinction helps explain why he never became a public figure in his own right even after marrying someone who would go on to become one of the most recognizable personalities in American media.

The Celebrity Connection: Marriage to Wendy Williams

The reason Bert Girigorie is searched for at all comes down to one relationship: his marriage to Wendy Williams, the longtime radio host who later became the face of a nationally syndicated daytime talk show. According to accounts from both Williams and Girigorie, the two dated for roughly two years before marrying in 1994. At the time, Williams had already spent years building her reputation in New York radio, working her way through stations and developing the outspoken on-air style that would later define her career, while Girigorie worked on the advertising and sales side of the same industry.

The marriage did not last. Multiple reports, including Williams’ own memoir and a later Lifetime documentary titled Wendy Williams: What A Mess, describe the couple separating after only about five months of marriage. The divorce was finalized sometime after that separation, with various accounts placing the final split around a year to a year and a half later. In her 2001 memoir Wendy’s Got the Heat, Williams did not use Girigorie’s real name, instead referring to him under the pseudonym “Robert Morris III.” That choice created some confusion among fans and researchers for years afterward, since it was not always clear that the man referenced in the book and the Bert Girigorie later named in interviews and reporting were the same person. Subsequent reporting has since connected the two identities, confirming that Girigorie was indeed the husband Williams wrote about in that section of her book.

The two offer somewhat different explanations for why the marriage fell apart so quickly. Williams has described the relationship in blunt terms, reportedly characterizing it as a “starter marriage” and telling interviewers that Girigorie was, in her words, a rebound following the end of her relationship with rapper Eric B. She has suggested that neither of them was emotionally ready for a serious, lasting commitment at that stage of their lives, and that the marriage reflected timing and circumstance more than lasting compatibility.

Girigorie, for his part, gave a more detailed account of the split in a 2019 interview with Radar Online, one of the few times he has spoken publicly about the relationship. He described Williams as undergoing what he called a dramatic and confusing personality shift not long after their wedding, saying, “It was very bizarre. She just turned into a different person.” He recalled a tense moment during their honeymoon when Williams reportedly insisted on spending a night away from him, which led to an argument that he says signaled deeper problems in the relationship. Girigorie has also suggested that substance use may have played a role in the changes he observed in her behavior, though he was careful to note that he did not personally witness any drug use during their time together and could only speculate about what was happening beneath the surface. Because this account comes from one side of a decades-old relationship and has not been independently corroborated in detail, it should be read as his personal recollection rather than an established account of events.

What both versions agree on is the timeline and the outcome: a short, unstable marriage that ended in separation within months and divorce within roughly a year and a half, leaving both parties to move forward on very different paths. Williams went on to marry Kevin Hunter in 1997, a relationship and later marriage that would become central to her public image for more than twenty years, while Girigorie returned to a private, largely unremarkable public existence.

Bert Girigorie’s Life After the Divorce

Following the divorce, Bert Girigorie largely disappeared from public view, which is precisely why so little verified information exists about him compared to Williams’ more visible exes. Reporting on his career suggests he continued working in sales and marketing rather than pursuing any path connected to entertainment or media, a career trajectory that stands in sharp contrast to the industry his former wife came to dominate. Some sources describe him as having taken on leadership roles within marketing firms based in the Charlotte, North Carolina area in the years since, reportedly building a career in digital or business marketing away from New York. These details, while plausible and repeated across several entertainment biography sites, are not backed by primary documentation such as company records or verified professional profiles, so they should be treated as reported information rather than confirmed fact.

There is no public record of Girigorie remarrying, having children, or otherwise stepping back into any kind of spotlight in the years since his marriage to Williams ended. He has given at least one public interview, the 2019 conversation with Radar Online, but has otherwise avoided commenting on his former wife’s career, her later marriage and public divorce from Kevin Hunter, or her health struggles, which have been extensively covered in the media. This pattern of near-total privacy is consistent with someone who was briefly connected to a public figure through marriage but never sought public attention in his own right, either before or after that connection existed.

Because Girigorie has not participated in reality television, given regular interviews, or built any kind of public persona, claims about his current net worth, exact age, or personal life that circulate on some websites should be approached with caution. Several biography sites publish specific figures for his net worth or precise details about his family life, but these numbers typically trace back to unofficial aggregator sites rather than any confirmed source, and readers should treat them as speculative rather than verified.

Why People Search for Bert Girigorie

The enduring interest in Bert Girigorie says less about him personally and more about the sustained public fascination with Wendy Williams’ life story. Williams built her career partly on personal candor, sharing details about her romantic history, her marriages, and her struggles on the air for years before writing about them in her memoir. That openness created a lasting curiosity among her audience about every chapter of her personal life, including the marriage that came before the one most people associate with her.

Interest in Girigorie specifically tends to spike around moments when Williams’ personal history returns to the news, whether through a new documentary, a health update, or renewed conversation about her decades in media. The 2021 Lifetime documentary Wendy Williams: What A Mess, for example, revisited her early relationships and reintroduced casual viewers to a piece of her biography they may not have previously known: that her first marriage happened years before she became a household name and ended almost as quickly as it began. Because Girigorie used a pseudonym in Williams’ own memoir for years, there is also a layer of mystery to unravel, which naturally drives searches from people trying to confirm whether “Robert Morris III” and Bert Girigorie are, in fact, the same person.

There is also a broader pattern at play that extends beyond this one case. Audiences are frequently drawn to the private figures connected to public ones, not necessarily because those individuals did anything newsworthy themselves, but because understanding a celebrity’s full personal history, including the relationships that came before major life events, helps fill in a more complete picture of who that public figure is and how they got there. Bert Girigorie fits neatly into that pattern: a private professional whose only connection to fame came through a marriage that lasted less than half a year, but whose name still carries enough weight to generate consistent search interest decades later.

Conclusion

Bert Girigorie’s story is a relatively simple one once the confirmed facts are separated from online speculation. He was a sales and marketing professional working in New York radio in the early 1990s who met and briefly married Wendy Williams in 1994, a marriage that collapsed within about five months and ended in divorce roughly a year and a half later. Williams referenced him under a pseudonym in her memoir before his real identity became more widely known through later reporting and his own 2019 interview, in which he described a confusing and short-lived relationship. Since then, Girigorie has kept his life private, reportedly continuing a career in marketing away from any media spotlight, while Williams went on to build the far more publicly documented chapters of her personal life. For anyone researching him, the most reliable takeaway is straightforward: Bert Girigorie is remembered today almost entirely as a footnote in Wendy Williams’ early biography, a brief but real relationship that both parties have described, in different words, as a mismatch that never had a real chance of lasting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Bert Girigorie? Bert Girigorie is a sales and marketing professional best known as the first husband of television and radio personality Wendy Williams. The two married in 1994 and separated within about five months.

Is Bert Girigorie the same person Wendy Williams called “Robert Morris III” in her memoir? Yes, reporting has since confirmed that the pseudonym Williams used in her 2001 memoir, Wendy’s Got the Heat, referred to Girigorie. She used the fictional name at the time rather than identifying him directly.

Why did Bert Girigorie and Wendy Williams divorce? The couple gave differing accounts. Williams has described the marriage as a rushed “starter marriage” and a rebound relationship, while Girigorie has said Williams’ behavior changed dramatically and unexpectedly after their wedding, a shift he could not fully explain.

What does Bert Girigorie do for a living? Girigorie has worked in sales and marketing throughout his career. Reports indicate he worked at Kiss FM in New York in the early 1990s and has since reportedly continued in marketing roles, though specific current employment details are not independently verified.

Does Bert Girigorie have any children or a public life today? There is no public record confirming that Girigorie has children or has remarried. He has largely avoided public attention since his divorce from Williams, giving only one notable interview, with Radar Online in 2019.