For Diana Williams, it was two tragic family incidents that took place in the span of a couple of months that compelled her to retire from work.
Firstly, it was her husband’s diagnosis of a rare form of cancer and, later on, her son’s near-death accident that rendered him unable to continue as a pilot.
Here’s everything that you need to know about Diana’s personal life with my husband, son, and daughters.
Diana Williams Quick Facts
| Full Name | Diana Williams |
| Nick Name | Diana |
| Birthday | July 18, 1958 |
| Age | 65 years old |
| Birth Place | Columbus, Ohio, United States |
| Horoscope | Cancer |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Caucasian |
| Education | Duke University |
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| Married | Yes |
| Relationship Status | Married |
| Husband | Douglas |
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| Son | Nathaniel Shanks |
| Daughter | Laura Shanks, Amy Shanks |
| Famous As | Former ABC anchor |
| Net Worth | $1.5 million |
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Diana Williams and Husband Douglas Shanks
The former ABC anchor Diana Williams met her husband Douglas Shanks back in the 70s-80s.
The couple began dating each other and quickly became absolutely smitten of each other. On Diana’s 27th birthday, Douglas Shanks proposed her to get married.
As Diana was in love with Shanks, she said yes to the proposal.
A couple of months later, after their engagement, Diana Williams and Douglas Shanks got married to each other.
They got married on December 1, 1985, in front of friends and family, in an intimate wedding ceremony.
As of today, Diana and her husband have been married for 37 years.
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Who Is Douglas Shanks?
Diana Williams’s husband, Douglas Wayne Shanks, was born in 1959, in Nashville, Tennessee. He is 64 years old now.
Doug went to Montgomery Bell Academy, and after graduating, he joined Davidson College.
Douglas later joined Vanderbilt University, where he studied marketing. With a degree in marketing, Douglas went on and worked at IBM in the marketing department.
These days, Doug and Diana live in their Rye, New York home.
Diana Williams Children
Diana and her spouse Douglas have three children together.
The oldest child, their daughter’s name is Laura Shanks, who is 33 years old.
Diana and Doug also have a son named Nathaniel Shanks, age 31, who everyone calls “Nat.”
Finally, the couple has their youngest daughter named Amy Shanks.
Their son, Nat, worked as an F-22 pilot for the U.S. Airforce. However, after a fatal accident, Nat had to retire from Airforce. He’s now a veteran.
It was these only two men in Diana’s life that moved her world into two different tragic events.
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Douglas Shanks Diagnosed with Cancer
In late 2014, Douglas Shanks was diagnosed with a very rare kind of medical condition, a disease that rendered the victim with failed organs.
What Douglas first thought was symptoms of old age, like trouble standing, walking properly, and weakness, turned out to be a rare disease called amyloidosis (pronounced, am-uh-loy-DO-sis.)
This disease causes different medical issues in every patient, and in Douglas’ case, it was attacking his kidneys.
Shanks was admitted to the Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital under the supervision of Dr. Heather Landau.
Diana took several weeks off from work to look after her husband during that time as his health was deteriorating faster.
It went to the point that Doug needed a kidney transplant. Fortunately, a family friend or, as Diana calls her “family angel,” offered to donate her kidney to Doug.
The surgery was successful, but during the transplant, Doug caught a virus and had to be put in ICU.
His condition has stabilized greatly, and he’s in remission since. However, Diana always fears when the disease might return.
While this was one tragedy in her life, another one came just in-between everything that was happening with her husband. It was her son.
Diana’s Son Died – Almost
In 2015, Diana received a phone call that shook her to the very core. She was looking after her husband, and during those times, her son met with a fatal accident near his base in Florida.
Nat was riding his motorcycle near his base in Florida when a 22 years old pick-up truck driver ran a red light.
While riding Nat collided with the truck straight on, which caused fractured eye-socket, nose, broken arms, pelvis, and internal hemorrhage.
Nat also lost a lot of blood in that accident, which caused further problems.
From what doctors said, Nat suffered a Traumatic brain injury or also known as TBI. While his surgery went successful, Nat went into a coma for some time.
After recovering from a coma and discharging from the hospital, Nat found that he was not in a fit state to continue as a pilot for Airforce. He had to retire from flying F-22 jet at the age of 25.
To this day, Nathaniel is recovering from his injuries caused by that near-death accident. He is since called a veteran.
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Why Diana Williams Left Job
Diana is a veteran journalist with over three decades of experience in the field. However, these traumatic experiences taught her one thing.
She wants to enjoy life while she can.
On Thursday, September 12, 2012, Diana left WABC-7 appeared on TV for the last time as an anchor.
The network reportedly offered to extend Diana’s contract for many years, but Diana politely said that she would not stay.
She explains how she wanted to use the window of opportunity that’s left so that she could enjoy her life with her family.
“For how long, I don’t know [because] my husband’s illness will come back. There is no cure, but he is in complete remission. His last series of blood tests — he has to get his blood work every two to three months — came back all good. We’ve got this window of opportunity to really enjoy our lives.”
Williams worries for her husband because there’s no cure to the disease he fought while at the brink of death. That’s the sole reason why Diana left and retired from journalism.
She waited five years to retire from journalism because she had to make sure her husband and son would be ok.
Diana Williams Bio, Age, Height
The former WABC anchor Diana Williams was born on July 18, 1958, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. She is 65 years old.
Diana joined Duke University from where she graduated with a degree in economics in 1980.
Her career started with WTVD, where she worked as an intern. Later, Williams joined WSOC as a reporter and also worked in networks like WBTV and WHDH.
In 1991, Williams joined WABC as a reporter and later began serving as an anchor. In her career, Williams has worked alongside Bill Beutel, Bill Ritter, and other anchors as well.
One of her major works, on Dangerous Crossings, won Williams an Emmy Award.
On September 12, 2019, Williams retired from journalism after serving 29 years with ABC network.
Diana Williams Salary, Net Worth
Since Diana has retired from working, she does not receive any salary these days. However, while she was working, Williams received over $100,000 in salary.
Similarly, Diana has a net worth of $1.5 million.
How Old Is Diana Williams?
Diana Williams is 65 years old. She was born on June 18, 1958, in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Did Diana Williams' Son Pass Away?
No, Diana Williams’ son Nathaniel William Shanks is not dead and did not pass away. He was involved in a fatal motorcycle accident when he collided with a truck. He is since recovering from injuries.
