Montel Williams

Vorlage:Infobox Celebrity Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American celebrity and former television talk show host.

Early life

Williams was born in a Baltimore ghetto, and as a student participated in the Maryland busing movement. He did well academically, and was an athlete, musician, and student body president.

Military career

Williams enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1974 and completed his recruit training at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina. While training at Twentynine Palms, he was selected for training at the Naval Preparatory School and a year later, he was accepted into the United States Naval Academy. In 1980, he graduated with a degree in engineering and a minor in international security affairs. Upon graduation, Williams was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy.

Williams served on board the USS Sampson during the U.S. invasion of Grenada. His awards include the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, two Navy Expeditionary Medals, two Humanitarian Service Medals, a Navy Achievement Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals and two Meritorious Service Medals. He retired after 22 years of military service as either a Lieutenant, or a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy.

Television career

In 1991, Montel was a rodeo clown in Switzerland for a year prior to going on TV as a talk show host, The Montel Williams Show, syndicated by CBS Paramount Television. In 1996, Williams received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. He was again nominated for Outstanding Talk Show Host in 2002, and the Montel Williams Show was nominated for Outstanding Talk Show in 2001 and 2002.

Williams also guest-stars in episodic television and off-Broadway plays. Among others, he portrayed a Navy SEAL lieutenant in several episodes of the television series JAG. Williams also produced and starred in a short-lived television series called Matt Waters, which appeared on CBS in 1996. He played an ex-Navy SEAL turned inner-city high school teacher.

Williams played the judge presiding over Erica Kane's (Susan Lucci) murder trial on the ABC soap opera All My Children in 2002. In 2003 Williams made a guest appearance on the soap as himself, to promote an episode of his own show on which several AMC stars were scheduled to appear.

On January 30, 2008, it was reported in Variety that CBS TV Distribution terminated the show when key Fox-owned stations chose not to renew it for the 2008-2009 season.

Fox Stations and Montel's TV career

Shortly before Fox-owned and operated television stations in major markets terminated Montel's talk-show contract, Montel appeared in an interview on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, and was asked to discuss Heath Ledger's death. He used the interview to point out that TV networks had continued to extensively cover Mr. Ledger's death while ignoring the deaths of 28 US soldiers in Iraq since the beginning of the year. Montel expressed sympathy for Mr. Ledger's family and remorse for his passing but also encouraged the three interviewers to recognize the absence of coverage for the US soldiers killed in Iraq. The interviewers sought to point out that their audience wanted celebrity news and it was more interesting than soldier deaths. Montel suggested that US news networks had the capacity to lead the country's attitudes by placing more importance on US deaths in Iraq than the deaths of celebrities. Montel noted that he had awoken that morning very saddened by the unknown names of those slain in Iraq and was further saddened when he could not find their names on the web.

Three minutes into this awkward segment on Fox, one host cut off Montel in order to go to a commercial. Montel did not return after the break.

Four days later, after 17 years as a television host, Montel lost his job.

Family and personal life

Williams has two daughters, Ashley and Maressa, with his first wife, Rochele See. Williams married Grace Morley, a burlesque dancer on June 6, 1992 [1]. They have a son, Montel Brian Hank, and a daughter, Wynter Grace. The couple divorced in 2000. In July 2006, Williams proposed to girlfriend Tara Fowler, an American Airlines flight attendant. They married before friends and family on a beach in Bermuda on October 6, 2007.

Williams participated in the 2007 World Series of Poker main event[2], and planned to donate any potential winnings to families affected by the Iraq war. He was eliminated in Day 2. During the event Williams also spoke out about the port security bill signed in 2006 that banned on-line gaming sites from accepting money transactions from the U.S. In August of 2007, Williams was initiated as an honorary member to Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.

Although Williams believes in God, he does not consider himself to be a part of any religion.Vorlage:Who

MS

Williams was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in 1999 and now heads the Montel Williams MS Foundation.

PPA spokesman

Montel Williams is a national spokesman of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA), a patient-assistance program clearinghouse that helps low-income patients apply for free or reduced-priced prescription drugs.

On November 30 2007, while in Savannah, Georgia to promote PPA, Montel Williams threatened reporters following an earlier interview at which a 17-year-old high school intern reporter (Courtney Scott) for the Savannah Morning News had asked him a question about whether restriction of pharmaceutical profits would discourage research and development of new drugs. Angered by the question, Williams subsequently terminated that videotaped interview. During the later encounter with Scott and another reporter, Williams, accompanied by his bodyguard, said, "I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up."

Williams' 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."

Bibliography

• Montel Williams, Paisner, Daniel: Mountain, Get Out Of My Way. Warner Books, 1997, ISBN 0-446-60417-8. 
• Montel Williams, Kramer, Jill: Life Lessons and Reflections. Mountain Movers Press, Carlsbad, CA 2000, ISBN 1-58825-001-6. 
• Montel Williams, Paisner, Daniel: A Dozen Ways to Sunday. Mountain Movers Press, 2001, ISBN 1-58825-005-9. 
• Montel Williams: BodyChange: The 21 Day Fitness Program for Changing Your Body and Changing Your Life. Hay House, Carlsbad, CA 2003, ISBN 978-1-4019-0314-5. 
• Montel Williams, Grobel, Lawrence: Climbing Higher. NAL Trade, 2005, ISBN 0-451-21398-X. 

External links

• Vorlage:Imdb name
• Official Personal Website
• Montel Show Website
• Montel Williams MS Foundation
• Montel Williams is a Wellness Coach for AOL Coaches
• PPARX press release