In an entertaining and wide ranging interview with Fat Joe, Vanessa Williams told Joey Crack, how she received death threats when she was crowned Miss America.
via: Page Six
Vanessa Williams made history as the first black Miss America in the ’80s, but the beauty queen- turned-entertainer recalled that not everyone wanted her to wear the crown.
“I won [Miss Syracuse], Miss New York State and Miss America all within six months, so I went from my junior year [at Syracuse University] to all of a sudden, I was the first Black Miss America in 1983. And I had death threats because we’re talking 37 years ago,” she said on “The Fat Joe Show.”
“A lot of people don’t like to be confronted with diversity, and I was the symbol of that, so I had to prove that I was smart enough. I was talented enough,” she said.
Williams gave up her crown near the end of her reign, after Penthouse infamously published nude photos of her that had been shot in 1982.
“After being Miss America, there was an issue with some pictures I had done, which did not have a release and they were sold behind my back. Six weeks before I was finishing my year [as Miss America], I resigned,” she said.
Williams would eventually launch a pop career and act in movies, TV and on Broadway.
“I never wanted to be a beauty queen — and, of course, I never wanted to be a scandalized beauty queen. So, I had so much judgment from a very early age against me,” she said. “I heard a lot of noes, and all the people thought I would just disappear. And I thought, ‘Once the dust settles, you’ll get to know who I really am.’ And, that’s how I live my life,” she said.
Vanessa Williams is a whole legend, and let’s give her all of her flowers.
