Wendt was born in Melbourne to Czech parents who emigrated to Australia in 1949; she was educated at the University of Melbourne. Wendt graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979.
Career
First starting out as a researcher for the ABC, Wendt's television career began as a news presenter for ATV-10evening news. In 1982 she then went on to be one of the first reporters on the Australian Nine Network's version of 60 Minutes, as well as filing stories for the American CBS 60 Minutes. She was host of A Current Affair, also on Nine, until 1993, and host of Australian Dateline on SBS and Witness on Seven. She also did a number of specials for the ABC. She returned to Channel Nine in 2003 to host Sunday.
Rumours of Wendt's departure from Nine began in June 2006, when the network announced it would merge its Sunday and Business Sunday programs. Leaks to the print media, reportedly from high levels within Nine and described by journalists as "ham-fisted", revealed that the network wanted to replace Wendt with Ellen Fanning. Then CEO Eddie McGuire in particular was accused of trying to "white-ant" Wendt. On 1 September 2006 it was announced that Wendt would leave the Nine Network. News reports suggested she would receive a payout of more than A$2 million in lieu of the remaining two and a half years of her contract. The absence of Wendt on the Sunday program's relaunch on 3 September 2006 was met with an unprecedented number of complaints that flooded the Nine Network's switchboard. Wendt was then sacked from her regular "Lunch" column for The Bulletin magazine, due to the association the magazine has with the Nine Network; both had the same parent company, PBL. On 12 September 2006, just ten days after she left the Nine Network, Wendt agreed to appear on stage at the Seven Network's 50 Years of Television presentation, where she co-presented the News and Current Affairs section with Sydney news presenter Ian Ross, another former Nine Network employee. Wendt presented the Logies Hall of Fame award to the program60 Minutes at the 2018 Logies.
Wendt won the 1992Gold Logie Award for her role as host of A Current Affair. She was not at the presentation to accept her award, citing commitments to A Current Affair, based in Sydney, while the awards were being presented in Melbourne. In 1997, she delivered the second Andrew Olle Media Lecture.
