Sherri Shepherd

Sherri Evonne Shepherd (born April 22, 1967)

Shepherd was born in Chicago, Illinois. She is the eldest of three girls. Her parents are LaVerne (1941-1991) and Lawrence A. Shepherd (born c. 1947). Her parents became Jehovah's Witnesses when Shepherd was a child. Due to many religious and non-religious issues, her parents divorced when Sherri was very young. Due to her mother's untimely death in 1991 after the divorce, her father became the sole parent for all three girls.^[2]

Career

Shepherd's first television acting job was starring as Victoria Carlson in the short lived sitcom Cleghorne!, which aired for one season on The WB in 1995.^[3] She told Ebony in 2018, "That was the first job that I booked and I was still a legal secretary. My agent told me, 'You can quit your job.' I had that big break ... and then it was canceled. I lost my apartment, my car was repossessed and I was homeless for a year. I slept on everybody's couch. In this business, it's very uncertain. You can be working one day and not working the next."^[3]

Shepherd later became recognized for her role as Sheila Yarborough on

In 2006, Shepherd became a frequent guest co-host on ABC's daytime talk show The View.^[12] She became a permanent co-host in 2007, debuting in September, when she replaced Star Jones.^[13] Since leaving The View in 2014, Shepherd has continued to make several appearances on the show as a contributor throughout 2015 and 2016.^[14]

Shepherd encountered public criticism after a September 2007 broadcast of The View when she stated she did not "believe in evolution. Period."^[15] Co-host Whoopi Goldberg asked her, "Is the world flat?" Shepherd responded, "I don't know," and expanded that she "never thought about it".^[16] Shepherd later referred to her statement as a "brain fart" brought on by nerves. Barbara Walters and Shepherd talked after that episode: Walters said, "Dear, the Earth is round", and Shepherd responded with: "Barbara, I know that!"^[17][18]

The View was often filmed "live", with little or no editing, so more criticism erupted after the December 4, 2007, broadcast when, during a discussion initiated by

In 2019, Shepherd participated in the second season of Fox's The Masked Singer as "Penguin".^[25]

From October 2021 to June 2022, Shepherd was among the recurring guest hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show The Wendy Williams Show, as its namesake Wendy Williams had been on an indefinite absence from the program due to her medical issues. On February 22, 2022, the show's distributor Debmar-Mercury announced that Shepherd had been signed on to host a new talk show, Sherri, which premiered in the 2022–23 television season as a replacement for Wendy.^[26][27] The series premiered on September 12.^[28] In January 2023, the series was renewed for its second and third seasons through 2025.^[29]

Other ventures

Shepherd wrote the book Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break, published in October 2009.^[30] Shepherd also has a co-author credit on Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes, published in 2013.^[31]

Sherri raises funds for the YAI Sherri Shepherd "Believe in Abilities" Fund.^[32] YAI^[33] supports people of all ages with intellectual and developmental disabilities in achieving the fullest life possible by creating new opportunities for living, loving, working, and learning. YAI is a network of agencies with programs that empower and enhance the lives of thousands of people we support and their families.

In 2009, Shepherd appeared on an episode of

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sherri Shepherd.

• Official website
• Sherri Shepherd at
  IMDb
• Sherri Shepherd at the Internet Broadway Database

Media offices
Preceded by Star Jones	The View co-host 2007–2014	Succeeded by Rosie Perez