THE INCIDENT THAT GOT Vanessa Williams BLACKLISTED from the Industry

yes yes no burn it burn it new name is debah Elliot you know the signal 911 I get out of the apartment have you heard about the Scandal that cost our '90s American sweetheart Vanessa Williams her crown Miss America Vanessa Williams took off her clothes and now she's being asked to give up her crown within 72 hours I wish I could retain my title as Miss America however the potential harm to the pageant and the Deep division that a bitter fight may cause has convinced me that I must relinquish my title is this americ today we're diving into Vanessa Williams Sensational story not only did she conquer the worlds of singing acting and dancing but she also clenched the Miss America crown in 1983 but where there's Spotlight Scandal often lurks right are strap in as we explore Vanessa's groundbreaking Journey from her historic Miss America Victory to the scandals that shook her world her brave confrontation with childhood molestation and those jaw-dropping red carpet moments that always leave us craving more and one night she came into the room where my friend and I were uh sleeping and uh she told me to lie down on the floor and she took my bottoms off and she said be quiet born in 1963 in the city of New York Vanessa Williams is a singer actress model dancer and producer quite the literal bundle of talent right let's start with the soundtrack of of Our Lives Vanessa hit the scene with Save The Best For [Music] Last and honey it went straight to number one we all belted that song in our showers at the top of our lungs even if most of us were a little unclear about what's saving the best meant but Vanessa was no one hit wonder she dropped albums left right and Center each one giving us jams of our life Vibes remember dreaming or who can forget Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas oh yeah she owned that soundtrack effortlessly Williams also has three albums to her credit that went on to be quite successful with several singles hitting top numbers on charts all over the world she has several successful collaborations and Grammy Award nominations to her credit but she doesn't stop there on the Silver Screen she was not afraid to show her range famous for her Ro as the dramatic Renee Perry in the series Desperate Housewives and The Sassy Willamina Slater in Ugly Betty a role that earned her three prime time em Noms we dare not forget she was in Soul Food basically Vanessa can do it all on both the mic and the screen like all of that isn't intimidating enough she's also an author she wrote a book with her mom Helen Williams titled you have no idea where they talk about Vanessa's career in life did someone say multi talented Queen Williams has been married three times her first marriage was to film producer Raymond hervey II where they had three children together Melanie Jillian and Devin her second husband was to actor and former NBA basketball player Rick Fox and they have a daughter Sasha Gabriella Fox her current husband is Jim scrip and they have been happily married since 2015 if that's not evidence to the alluring beauty that is Vanessa Williams I don't know what is I mean she was pageantry level gorgeous did I say she was pardon me possibly holding on to the secret of Eternal youth if Vanessa Williams decided to compete in a pageant now she just could win but when she did 1984 the big man was 13 years old and I remember Vanessa Williams vividly why because she was a HomeTown honey Vanessa Williams was Miss New York people forget that and after winning the Miss New York title Williams went to Atlantic City New Jersey to participate in Miss America in 1983 Vanessa Williams became the first African American to win the Miss America crown we were shook did you understand the significance of being the first African-American woman to be Miss America I didn't realize how big it would be when I was touring older black women thought they'd never see it in their lifetime and some people would cry if we're being honest she might be the only Miss America whose name we all remember without having to look it up and that's because she was also the first and so far only Miss America to resign from her position talk about steady smashing records huh here's what happened less than two months before the end of her Reign some photos of Vanessa surfaced and let's just say they were more runchy than anything you'd see in a pageant word on the street is that Vanessa worked with a photographer as a receptionist and agreed to pose in her birthday dress for the photographer he be assured Vanessa these photos wouldn't see the light of day but honey they ended up plastered across Penthouse Magazine like butter on toast everywhere you look we heard from a very reliable source that there's going to be you're going to be on the the cover of pentas magazine and I said I don't know what you're talking about and he said well we heard from a reliable source that you are and I said I I still don't know what you're talking about and I called my lawyer immediately after I HED the phone um and of course my reaction was what's going on I knew that I hadn't signed any release for any photos and I really had no idea what was about to come so it's you know at 21 years of age it it's sheer panic and Terror and uh my initial reaction was what am I going to do about the crown but what's going to happen to my life and my my family's life talk about Shady can you just imagine the headlines Miss America more like Miss exposed the pageant organizers freaked out and Vanessa was pressured to relinquish her crown like girl bye can you imagine the humiliation one day you're a queen living your best Royal life and the next day you're simply not I fully support the Miss America Pageant and the opportunities that has provided for millions of aspiring young women such as myself however it is apparent to me that because all this has happened during the past week it will be difficult for me to make an appearance as Miss America I feel my new career will be the greatest challenge in my life therefore I do officially relinquish my title as Miss America 1984 to the Amer P winning that crown and being the first African-American sure came with its own perils before the scandalous photos ever became public knowledge Vanessa Williams had reportedly received several death threats and many obscene messages but she handled that hot mess with such Grace it kind of makes you wonder what could have prompted such a gorgeous graceful intelligent young woman with such big dreams to pose for x-rated pictures in the first place I said I don't know what's going on but I'm sorry we have no idea what's going to happen I was stupid and I took some pictures and apparently they're coming out you might want to brace yourself because the possible answer might shock you out of your seat she provides us with some of the tea in her book you have no idea she lets us in on how she was molested at age 10 by an older female family friend and she's right we had no idea she held such a dark secret and she went down on me and I was 10 years old and I knew I shouldn't be doing or she shouldn't be doing you know when you're sexually molested at a young age it makes you feel things that you've never had before and I think it made me feel a lot more promiscuous at an earlier age because I was I don't want to say desensitized but you know I'd already had an experience like that as a possible coping mechanism which she didn't even realize at the time Vanessa Williams gets rather sexualized quite early on so much that she gets pregnant and has an abortion all while in high school as you can imagine her mother Helen Williams only finds out about the molestation and abortion while they're working on the book Helen says she's shocked to her guts when she finds out but in hindsight it only makes Vanessa's actions in her teenage years make all the more sense it also might explain why she would make the poor uninformed decision to pose for those nude pictures at the time but hey you can't keep a queen down and Vanessa's moves on to pageantry much as Vanessa tries to move on and heads in the direction of Broadway because why not but she's not ready for what's waiting for her on that side of stardom after what she believes is a successful audition she's hit by a brick wall one that was built using the same dirt from her past after I finished the audition I left the stage and Mike Nichols turned around to the producer who is Ira gershwin's wife Lee gerswin I guess at that point you know Widow and he said wasn't she terrific and he went downstairs the back of the stage the phone rang which was was on the the foot of the stage uh backstage and he answered it and Lee gerswin said to him verbatim Over My Dead Body will that be in my show and I didn't know the exact words until Mike Nichols told me the exact words and I ended up writing it in my book because it was I never knew I knew I didn't get it I knew that I was talented enough I knew that that was a complete reset for me in my career saying oh really doesn't have has nothing to do with Talent at this point in my life I know that this has nothing to do with Talent so that to me was like oh this is a much bigger struggle than I thought I was going to have to be able to conquer and that was from Mike Nichols mouth God God Rest his soul girl could not seem to catch a break but they say the best revenge is living well so Vanessa is determined not to let them see her sweat and so she works off her behind to attain the stardom she deserves which has to be easy when you're ridiculously talented right she moves on from pageantry in Broadway and pours herself into making music it took 10 years of hard work resilience and doggedness to achieve the results that Vanessa Williams can now boast of a number one single for 6 weeks in a row 11 Grammy nominations and lots more homeg girl had it going on and she would not stop there looks like we forgot to mention that she also became a mother of four Vanessa had it all she waltzed her way into a career that we could only refer to as legendary at this point so legendary that she didn't bring any lawsuits against the photographer or the magazine that published her nudes so I ended up going into a lawsuit against pentest magazine and while you're you know you have to do a deposition and your your lawyers are talking to you about the trial and this might come up and he said uh you know uh by the way have you ever been with another woman I said well when I was 10 years old I guess I was molested by a older girl he said well that's going to come out in the trial so I just want you to know that be expect for that to come up and once I knew that not only it's not going to be just about the pictures and Miss America but it was going to be everything about my life that's when I said you know what I'm done I don't want to fight I want to get my life back I just want to move on which was clearly done to sabotage her nah this queen was all about Rising above the drama and winning and let's not forget the looks this woman was serving us Hollywood glam like she had some secret recipe book making major boss moves did not go unnoticed by the world that spatter out for those scandalous portraits Broadway was the first to come knocking on her door as Vanessa Williams was offered to come back with her name and lights in Kiss of the Spiderwoman success they say has many friends and they all seem to like Vanessa now that she's on top because how else do we explain a public apology from the Miss America Pageant 32 years later ladies and gentlemen the CEO of the Miss America organization Mr Sam hasell I have been a close friend to this beautiful and talented lady for 32 years you have lived Your Life in Grace and dignity and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned though none of us currently in the organization were involved in on behalf of today's organization I want to apologize to you and to your mother miss Helen Williams I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be it only took all of 32 years but hey at least they recognized that they could have handled the situation better to sweeten the deal they also invited her to be head judge of the Miss America Pageant how do we Define a comeback because this was the mother of all comebacks first time in 32 years former winner Vanessa Williams returns why now I've got a perfect platform to kind of uh be reintroduced to the organization that catapulted me into notori and startup when the world throws Lemons at you you make lemonade but take it one step further and serve that lemonade to those who threw them at you and make sure it's chilled cuz that's how Vanessa did it you just recently celebrated a birthday yes how did you celebrate 60 6 still a tall glass of melan and goodness Vanessa Williams does not take any of it for granted you don't beat yourself up the way we do when we're our 20s and 30s and I've got to do this and I got to be this and I got to please people uh so there is a sense of kind of satisfaction despite losing her Miss America crown Vanessa Williams remains a radiant figure in Hollywood royalty with a net worth of 20 million and undeniable Grace at 61 she exemplifies how true Queens always shine

Channel: Soulful Screen TV

Views: 5,227

Keywords: celebrity news, beyond the screen, vanessa williams, vanessa williams save the best for last, vanessa williams save the best, vanessa williams scandal, miss america vanessa williams apology, miss america pageant 1975

Id: o0xdcwE0GXE

Length: 13min 56sec (836 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024