Montel's father, Herman Williams Jr., was a firefighter who in 1992 became Baltimore's first African American Fire Chief. He frequently visited his sister, who lives in Westminster, Maryland. Williams was raised as a Roman Catholic and served as an altar server in the Catholic Church.

He was a good student, athlete, and musician, and he was active in countywide student government issues in Annapolis, Maryland. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 3, 1956, Williams attended Andover High School in neighboring Linthicum, Maryland, where he was elected president of his class in both his junior and senior years.