At the age of six, she appeared tap-dancing on the "Howdy Doody" show as a member of the "Peanut Gallery." She had her first run-in with the law at the age of 15, when she was arrested for sunbathing nude. Williams attended R. L. Thomas High School in Webster at least partway through the 10th grade, but left school before graduating. Her schoolmates and teachers recalled Williams as a "shy and pretty girl, an average student who played in the junior high band, paid attention to her hair and clothes, and who spoke so softly you had to lean toward her to hear her." At the age of 16, Williams left her home and hitchhiked to Colorado where she earned money by selling crocheted string bikinis. Afterwards, she headed for Florida working as a lifeguard and then to Europe, where she worked as a macrobiotic cook in London and as a dancer with a gypsy dance troupe. Around that time, she was arrested on multiple occasions for shoplifting and passing counterfeit money. In 1976, Williams arrived in New York City, where she saw an ad in the "Show Business" magazine that lay open on the Port Authority Bus Terminal station floor. It was a casting call for radical artist and Yale University graduate Rod Swenson's experimental "Captain Kink's Theatre." She replied to the ad and began performing in live sex shows. She later appeared in Gail Palmer's adult film, "Candy Goes to Hollywood" (1979), credited as Wendy Williams. She was featured as a performer on a parody of "The Gong Show" shooting ping pong balls across the set from her vagina. By 1977, Swenson became Williams' manager and recruited her to join his newly formed punk rock band, Plasmatics. They made their debut in July 1978 at the Manhattan music club CBGB. The Plasmatics toured the world, although a concert in London was cancelled by the promoters due to safety reasons, causing the press to dub the band "anarchists." During the shooting of an appearance on "SCTV" in 1981, studio heads decided they would not air Williams' performance unless she changed out of a costume that revealed her nipples. Williams refused. The show's make-up artists found a compromise and painted her breasts black. In January 1981, Milwaukee, Wisconsin police arrested Williams for simulating masturbation on stage, and charged with battery to an officer and obscene conduct. She was cleared of all charges.