Todd Hiller, best known by his on-air name Fez Marie Whatley, passed away Friday, August 13. Whatley was famous for being part of the beloved duo that hosted the talk radio show The Ron and Fez Show, which aired from 1998 to 2015.
Ron Bennington, who co-hosted the radio show with Whatley, broke the news on his Instagram account on Saturday. The post read:
“We lost our sweet Fez Whatley last night. His heart finally gave out. We are devastated, but we will always remember the laughter through our tears. Our thoughts are with his family who loved him the most and with the people who knew him as a voice on the radio. #fezwhatley.”
By "his heart finally gave out", Bennington alludes to the history of health issues Whatley had battled through since November 2005. As of 2015, Whatley had had a total of 5 heart attacks. The most recent one had been back in March of this year, which was documented by Bennington on his Instagram in the form of some photos showing Whatley lying in a hospital bed on a ventilator. Through all this hardship, it seems Whatley never lost his sense of humor, as he expressed he felt “oddly proud” of the photos according to what Bennington wrote in the caption.
After years of struggling with his sexual identity, Whatley came out as homosexual back in 2012, and since his admittance on-air he became very active and open in speaking about the struggles undergone by the LGBTQ+ community. In a blog post, Whatley wrote: “Organizations like GLAAD and the Trevor Project are working so hard to protect LGTB youth from dangerous situations with bullying and from endangering themselves. To talk about these things, I need to be honest about who I am.”
He went on to say:
“Today I’m coming out. To everyone. I can’t be a part of “It gets better” until I make sure things are going to get better for me. And that’s what I intend on doing. So that the next time I’m asked by someone, “Are you really gay?” I can finally answer, “24 hours a day.”
Whatley’s death comes six years after he had announced his retirement back in 2015. He was 57 years old. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.