Sherri Shepherd

Shepherd has appeared as a guest host and contestant on several television shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Rachael Ray, and To Tell the Truth.[10] She co-hosted the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards on June 20, 2008. Shepherd also hosted Nickelodeon's NickMom Night Out special from 2013 to 2014,[11] Shepherd hosted Best Ever Trivia Show on Game Show Network for 65 episodes, beginning on June 10, 2019. She has appeared regularly as a panelist on Funny You Should Ask since 2017.

The View's panel (left–right Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Shepherd, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck) interview United States President Barack Obama on July 29, 2010.

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.[13] Since leaving The View in 2014, Shepherd has continued to make several appearances on the show as a guest host and "lead contributor" throughout 2015 and 2016.[14]

Shepherd was criticized after one 2007 broadcast of The View.[15] The show was often filmed "live", with little or no editing. She stated she did not "believe in evolution. Period." 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]

Similar criticism erupted after the December 4, 2007, broadcast of The View when, during a discussion initiated by Joy Behar about Epicurus, Shepherd attempted to assert that Christians existed in classical Greece, and that the Greeks threw them to the lions. When confronted on this point, she further claimed that "Jesus came first" (before Greeks and Romans) and stated, "I don't think anything predated Christians", to which Behar responded: "The Jews."[19][20]

Shepherd garnered criticism after admitting to never voting partly due to her upbringing as a strict Jehovah's Witness. She was quoted as saying that she just "never knew the dates or anything"; she stated, "I've never voted for anything in my life."[21] In January 2008, Sherri referred to Gospel singer Shirley Caesar as "the black Patti LaBelle." LaBelle, like Caesar, is black.[22]

In 2008, she created controversy on The View due to "flippant" remarks regarding abortion. She later clarified her position, saying her remarks weren't meant to be flippant but rather to inspire other women who may be dealing with guilt after abortions. She cited having multiple abortions in her 20s, suffering from shame and guilt from those experiences, later converting to Christianity.[23] In 2009, Shepherd won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host alongside Behar, Goldberg, Walters, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.[24]

In March 2012, Shepherd participated as a celebrity contestant on the fourteenth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars; her dance partner was Val Chmerkovskiy.[25]

In 2019, Shepherd participated in the second season of Fox's The Masked Singer as the "Penguin".[26]

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.[27][28] The series premiered on September 12.[29] In January 2023, the series was renewed for its second and third seasons through 2025.[30]

Shepherd wrote the book Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break, published in October 2009.[31] Shepherd also has a co-author credit on Plan D: How to Lose Weight and Beat Diabetes, published in 2013.[32]

Sherri raises funds for the YAI Sherri Shepherd "Believe in Abilities" Fund.[33] YAI[34] 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 WWE SmackDown as the guest manager for professional wrestler MVP, who competed against Dolph Ziggler in a match defending the WWE United States Championship.[35] In 2011, Shepherd offered to pay six months' rent and utilities of homeless former American Gladiators star Debbie Clark (Storm).[36] As of 2015, a project includes a line of wigs and hair add-ins.[37]