Vanessa Williams - Road To Miss America 1984

[bleachbred]

Fate is destiny!

[besorgesmir]

Vanessa knew where she had to go with her incredibel talent. Thanks a lot for making us happy with your personality! Greetings from Ecuador!

[ger6111]

i was so young, i think 9, and remember thinking this was stupid,"so what she has nude photos"....i still don't understand ppls odd hangups.

[miguelkelley123]

a fabulous classy lady through and through....

[tefnutbellsouthnet]

We will always be proud of you Vanessa- your greatest gift will never be your class, your style, your stage presence, your intellect, your grace- but that of a true role model one with a heart of Gold.  You have endured a nightmare and in the style of an American Dream may you continue to be blessed.

[maxbaby29]

only miss american anyone know of

[PArTuie]

@maxbaby29 Check your inbox whippersnapper. I can name them all in order starting with Margeret Gorman 1921 and ending with Laura Eppeler 2012.  :)

[tuadolcefanciulla]

I think Vanessa is one of the most beautiful, talented, and strong women that ever was crowned Miss America. I think she an excellent embodiment of any era's Miss America. I enjoy her as an actress, singer, and personality. I have great respect for her, and she makes me proud to be an American.

[anikadiamond007]

That's such an inspirational story!!:)

[PhillyLucky7]

I would bang her.

[emeraldgal28]

she's still gorgeaous at 47 :) i adore her

[davbear221]

No doubt she is the most beautiful and talented! I get so angry when i hear that reporter say "is America ready for a black Miss America!" How humiliating for Vanessa!  Guess thats why we've had so many gifted "black" Miss Americas! Go, Ericka, Debbye, Carissa!!!! As a white American I am really offended by the reporter and the way Vanessa was treated! GIVE VANESSA HER CROWN BACK!!!!!

[yellowbird39tc]

@davbear221 - that was a stupid question to ask a black woman on tv!!!!!!

[dmsands12]

So sad they did not invite VW for the 2011 reunion. That's ok your still Miss America 1984 too and no one could ever take that away from you.

[DriveAustra]

If Vanessa Williams showed up at the 2011 Miss America Pageant and participated in the reunion of past winners on stage, that show would draw a good 40 to 50 million viewers wanting to witness that moment. People love VW.

[TheGeminiLounge]

Has she become the most sucessfull Miss America?? Successfull in the entertainment industry?

[hughesjr]

She took lemons and made lemonade.

[JumpStreet1983]

Black ain't a skin color: it's a state of being. Vanessa could have passed for White back in the 80's when she was still light enough (she's much tanner now), but she didn't. She CHOSE to represent who she is, and people are STILL finding fault 25 years after the fact. Get a life! She, like Oprah, represents the Black race well. What have the rest of you done lately? 'Nuff said.

[blognewb]

@JumpStreet1983 well said, well spoken. Although let's point out the fact that black women have much more chance of getting accepted in the society (employment wise) than men. Their biggest rival is the white male prototype. actually heterosexual white male if I may add.

[muscled57]

It is ironic that the woman that the pageant asked to resign her title, is probably the one person who can single handedly save the pageant if she agreed to host it.

[Piratepiracy]

im noticing she made a nose job for sure but still stunning

[missVeemack]

@Piratepiracy Nope she did not have a nose job. Her face is just slimmer. so u noticed wrong.

[mybrownb]

@Piratepiracy: She didn't have a noce job. Whe you're in your Teens or Early Adult you look differently from when you turn Thirty Something or Fourty Something. Besides all Celebrity Make up artists create an illusion of a Slimmer Nose (on Celebrities of all Races) by Creating Shadows on the Sides of the Nose. Highlighting the Bridge.

[aloofbooks]

I love this woman!

[Josiekitty87]

I did not know she was Miss America 1984...She is gorgeous!

[SexyLiLLeilaniMya]

She gorgeous!

[cheerboy511]

WOW! I never knew she was black! I always thought she was white, a European. I would've never known she was until I watched this video. She is so beautiful and gorgeous! She is perfection. Love her!!!

[2dasimmons]

Vanessa's Williams was the perfect Miss America! She brought the truth to light w/the pageant: as the pageant host said @ the time All the pageant contestants are forward and aggressive and often engaged in activities like Vanessa's. But Vanessa got caught; today that would not be such an issue. Certainly her race played a factor as there is a vehement prejudice against blacks that white american entertainment industry resists acknowledging, ANd just look @ our Vanessa today---A STAR!

[antneya]

sang vanessa!!!!!!!!!!

[AndrewMcy]

Love her!!

[blueprophet9]

So...I finally saw those Penthouse pics of yesteryears. I thought they were going to be random nude pics in frail artistic fashion...nope! They were nice and mmhmm(girl on girl), oh yeah!! lol She just jumped up 10pts on my undercover freak meter. Daddy like! Daddy like alaahht. 8:07...

[Tackyonetwo]

Happy Birthday, Vanessa! (March 18, 1963)

[CoolScoobydoo]

When you are an African American and you achieve an honorable achievement, expectations are high, especially if you are the first African American to achieve that. However, it comes with a price. When things go wrong, there is a scandal, or controversy surrounding you, you are double taxed. It is called the "black tax." Mainstream "white" America will quickly condemn you. This was do to her, it was done to Michael Jackson, OJ Simpson, Tiger Woods, and now its being done to Pres. Obama.

[robinquinc329]

@CoolScoobydoo No one did it to her. She did to herself. If this had happened to a white girl the same thing would have happened-they would have taken the title from her.

[raspberryman1968]

@robinquinc329 I agree with you! Everyone should throw outhte race thing! she knew taking those pictures would come out to haunt her one day.

[robinquinc329]

@raspberryman1968 The funny thing is that after she won the photographer offered to sell them back to her at cost and she ignored his calls. He then went out and offered them to the highest bidder. She had no one to blame but herself. In the end, it all worked out. She is the most famous of the former Miss Americas, So it's all good now.

[CoolScoobydoo]

THis was when women were ladies.

[asmaprincess]

shes had a nose job tho

[2dasimmons]

@asmaprincess Who hasn't!?!

[asmaprincess]

@2dasimmons i havent

[2dasimmons]

@asmaprincess R U N the entertainment business or planning on going n2 it? Perhaps as an actress, like Ms. Williams or some other type of performer? Many white, as well as black performers have had cosmetic surgery for their craft.

[wlhardy]

Vanessa made a stupid mistake when she was 17 & it came back to bite her in the butt a few years later. But when the dust cleared--and it always does--she was able to show what she could do. She turned out to be probably the best-known Miss America & went on to a successful singing/film/stage career. I have a lot of respect for her.

[ronnykmarshall]

She showed them. Go Vanessa!

[quethetee]

She was and still is so beautiful. I watched her win on an old black and white tv and didn't realize she was black, I don't think, I was a little kid at the time

[famousdee22]

So she was the first black Miss America correct?

She looks like a star!

Its amazing how now, everybody has naked pics and sex videos coming out and still keep their careers!

[Parker528]

@famousdee22 Correct.

[friendofthediva3]

Being an AC native and lifelong Pageant fan, there were only two times that I actually cried over the Pageant. The night that Vanessa Williams won the title and the day that she had to resign from the title.I am so glad that Vanessa has gone on to superstardom and didn't let the scandal destroy her. Thanks iduzzine81 for posting this superb video of Miss Vanessa Williams.She is truly a great achiever.

[klg93]

that was crazy how she had to give the crown back. everybody makes mistakes i think they did all of that on purpose.

[DriveAustra]

@klg93 She did not have to give the crown away. With a month left in her reign, the MAO allowed her to keep the crown and scholarship dollars but asked for her resignation from the job and she only had 4 weeks left with a two week vacation. So she really only had 2 weeks left on the job. Once a Miss America, always a Miss America. She was never stripped of the title. That is hers to wear for ever. Suzette shared the title because she finished out the reign.

[luvs2teach00]

What an aweful question the woman asked, "You are a young black woman, do you think, this country is ready for a black Miss America?" That would not be asked in these days and times. Society has progressed, I mean we have a black president.

[josbo51715]

Actually people were asking whether we were ready for a black president.

[laarbe]

I remember when this was going on. Ms. Vanessa Williams is still the most famous Miss America and the one of the most beautiful and talented woman in America and the Universe. Thanks for the post and the memories.

[misshoneybear1998]

DriveAustra, I think the judges were clear about her ethnicity and even if not, the first runner-up, Suzette Charles, was much more visibly (basing on your theory) an African-America so they put two black women in 1st and 2nd slots.

[luvs2teach00]

@misshoneybear1998 When Vanessa received ton of racist hate mail and death threats especially down South, people recognized that she was really black.

[Parker528]

@misshoneybear1998 Oh I agree. I remember that week before the final night, there was a TON of publicity and buzz on the local evening news in Philly about her talent pelim award and that she was a good chance to become 1st black one. No doubt that the judges knew she was half black. Its not like the prelim and final evening judges are sequestered from the press.

[dmsmith1002]

Vanessa is someone I greatly admire, not just because of her talent, but because she took an embarrasing, humiliating situation and turned it into a positive, successful career. As far as I'm concerned, she IS Miss America, 1984. You go, girl! :)

[grethomory]

@dmsmith1002 That is so true....the Vanessa Williams story is true for anyone who faces adversity...first being the first African American Miss America, but then a scandal...and using the good sense to know that this negative publicity can be turned into something positive...she was already famous or infamous...and she used it to her advantage.

[DriveAustra]

I really don't know what the judges thought Vanessa was. Because of her blue colored eyes and the way the lights made her hair appear dark blonde, she was just another beautiful amazing contestant loaded with talent and intelligence. If she were a brown skinned woman, she would not have won that year I believe. Too soon for that to happen. Vanessa is a trailblazer and every black Miss America that came along afterwards stood on her shoulders.

[luvs2teach00]

6 years later a darker-skinned black woman won Miss America in 1989

[Parker528]

@luvs2teach00 Really? You perceive Debbye Turner as being dark skinned comparatively speaking? The girl who won the next year that she passed her corwn onto, Marjorie Vincent is MUCH darker than either Vanessa, Suzette Charles or Debbye. Marjories parents were immigrants from Haiti. I think blacks would consider Debbye Turner, Miss America 90 as light to medium skinned and Vanessa as more on the lighter side than that, but not too far away.

[2dasimmons]

@DriveAustra Vanessa Williams is obviously black even w/her green eyes. She looks blacker than Mariah Carey and as black as Halle Berry. Whites have set such stringent standards on what constitutes "whiteness" that someone like Vanessa Williams would only qualify as black, not "dark white". That's true 2day and even more so yesterday b4 whites came up w/bi-racial standards..

[jevonk]

@2dasimmons lol @ "dark white". Sounds like a chicken recipe.

[latinoguy]

Thanks for posting.

I finally giot to see Vanessa"s talent.

Vanessa"s singing was Great but Suzette Charles" talent was a bit better.

But Vanessa beat her in Swimsuit and Evening Gown with her killer body.

[Iris35211]

Just think of it, she's the only "Miss America" most people can name.

[Parker528]

@Iris35211 True, at least for the current generation. Older generations know of Lee Merriweather (Catwoman) who won the first year the pageant was televised, and like 30 million ppl tuned in to watch it. Also older people might know Phyllis George who became a tv commentator, co host at future pageants and even worked for Good Morning America or some other morning show.

[MrTre5670]

@Iris35211 I CAN NAME MISS DEBBIE TURNER

[PArTuie]

@Iris35211 I can name them all in order. Did you know that Vanessa is the only one though with the title "Miss America" on her birth announcement? :)

[fun702]

Can u upload the program this is from please??

[MsMayPianoTeacher]

Intelligent and Adorable-A Doll-So Pretty-A lovely rendition of Happy Days-Young Sweet Tones with a Broadway Belting Voice. Still going strong! GB-God Bless

[silviabrankova]

She is so beautiful,not like today's all plastic beauty queens.

[sterl94]

where's part 2

[vicmuscle]

i love Vanessa Williams , you are the best singer for all times...

[VTMCompany]

TOGA party at 2:37 !

[Troy1967]

3:30-6:00 That's why I really love her!-Her timeless, yet very sexy singing voice! Vanessa is truly THE REAL THING!

[cman80]

Not the best song for Vanessa; the melody isn't worthy of her voice. But WOW what a performer. Always Miss America 1984!

[williedearest]

Is this the whole thing??

[DisneylandBred]

Doesnt even come close to comparing to Barbra. Never.

[robinquinc329]

In your opinion. I never understood the fascination with Babs. I mean she was good, but not great.

[DisneylandBred]

3:52 - Scary stare.