The Tragedy Surrounding Vanessa Williams Is Just Plain Sad

Feb 20 2021

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Vanessa Williams found fame after winning the 1983 Miss America pageant and becoming the first Black woman to win the title. However, how she got there and what happened after can certainly be described as tragic. We'll break it down for you with a deep dive into her tumultuous life. Vanessa Williams detailed in her 2012 memoir You Have No Idea, which she co-authored with her mother Helen Williams, how she was molested by an 18-year-old female family friend when she was 10 years old. She told ABC News: "It happened one night where she told me, 'Come over here'. I didn't know that it was wrong, but I knew that it wasn't right because I wasn't supposed to tell anybody." In 2014, Williams detailed the incident to Oprah's Master Class, saying she was in fifth grade when the abuse occurred: "She made you want to feel like you were a grown-up [...] At that young age, having that happen to you in your body, it awakens your sexuality at an age where it shouldn't be awakened [...] I think that had that not happened [...] there wouldn't have been that shame that was always haunting me. It made me more sexually promiscuous." Watch the video to see why The Tragedy Surrounding Vanessa Williams Is Just Plain Sad. #VanessaWilliams #Models #Celebs Abused as a child | 0:00 Abortion | 1:00 Racism | 2:06 Death threats | 2:49 Miss America scandal | 3:46 Body image and mental health | 4:47 Post-scandal blues | 5:46 Two divorces | 6:45 Miss America organization | 7:49 Her children's safety | 8:44