Ciera Payton to play Wendy Williams in Lifetime biopic

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The Oval and She's Gotta Have It star Ciera Payton has signed on to play talk-show host Wendy Williams in a Lifetime biopic.

Morocco Omari from P-Valley and Empire is set to play Williams' ex-husband, Kevin Hunter.

Production is slated to begin this month with director Darren Grant at the helm.

Williams is executive producing the dramatic movie, which is to debut in 2021. It will be paired with a feature-length documentary about the television icon.

"Wendy has made herself the go-to source for great celebrity dish on her hit talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, but recently the spotlight has turned towards her," the cable network said in a news release Thursday. "The authorized project provides a revealing look at Wendy's journey, from her scrappy upstart days in urban radio to the success of her own syndicated talk show."

Williams and Hunter finalized their divorce in January. Williams has also been battling Graves' disease in recent years.