Vanessa Williams Remembers Resigning as Miss America, 41 Years Ago: ‘How Did I Get Through It?’
On July 23, 1984, a then-21-year-old Vanessa Williams relinquished her title as Miss America. It was the first time in the pageant’s history that a winner gave up her crown, but after Penthouse magazine announced plans to publish nude photos of Williams, public pressure gave the actress and singer no choice but to step down.
More than four decades later, Williams, 62, reflected on the ordeal when she appeared on the How To Fail podcast, telling host Elizabeth Day how she has gained perspective. “I was 20 years old when I won. I was 21 when I resigned. Now I have the lens of having four children, looking at how young and vulnerable and impressionable they are at 20 years old…and then I say, ‘how did I get through it? How did I make it?'”
Williams credited her “great community, great family, great support” for helping her weather the storm. But she also said she knew that she still “had a future,” that this Miss America setback wouldn’t be her end.
The Miss America pageant prides itself on providing a wholesome image of women. So, when Penthouse obtained Williams’ artistic nude modeling photos, the pageant organization had a problem. Williams posed in the buff for photographer Thomas Chiapel in 1982, according to History.
The photographer promised that Williams wouldn’t be recognizable in the pictures. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Chiapel sold the photos to Penthouse after she became Miss America, who then planned to publish them in their September 1984 issue.