The following references sexual abuse and body image issues.
Vanessa Williams stepped into the limelight at just 20 years old.
After earning her crown, Williams quickly proved that she was more than just a stunningly pretty face.
Alongside her Miss America crown, she has Grammy and Tony nominations to her name.
But behind all of Williams' success and achievements, there have been a number of hardships.
From a humiliating scandal that took her crown to rocky marriages, the acclaimed actor has weathered many storms.
She’s proven that despite personal struggles, it’s possible for you to always bounce back.
“The dust always settles,” she toldABC Newsin 2015.
“And once the dust settles, it hasn’t changed who you are.
You’re still the same.”
Let’s take a look at a few tragic moments Vanessa Williams has bounced back from.
In 2012, the “Ugly Betty,” star went public with her own personal life story.
Alongside her mother, Helen Williams, Vanessa penned a memoir titled “You Have No Idea.”
In it, Vanessa recounted a particularly devastating moment from her childhood.
In fact, she kept the secret from her mother until the two co-authored the memoir together.
“[I] had no idea that, that had happened,” Helen toldABC News.
Vanessa acknowledged that the abuse impacted her life during her most susceptible years.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
Vanessa Williams' final year of high school consisted of carrying a huge secret from her mother.
Williams was dating her boyfriend at the time when she discovered she was pregnant.
The teens made an appointment with Planned Parenthood to terminate the pregnancy.
“It was all so scary to me,” Williams wrote.
If we had been brave, we would have gotten married and had the child.
But we weren’t even brave enough to tell my parents.
The tragic twist was that we had always talked about marriage and kids.
But not in high school!"
Williams kept her abortion from her mother for years.
“Until I read these pages, I didn’t know this had happened.
The emotional experience helped shape Williams' pro-choice stance while competing in Miss America.
“In one of the parades down South … usually they have Miss America in a convertible.
I had to be inside.”
However, not all reactions were negative.
The star recalled meeting people who were overjoyed for her win.
“Older black women thought they’d never see it in their lifetime.
And some people would cry,” explained Williams.
Williams posed for these photos when she was 19 years old.
The photographer didn’t hold up his end of the deal.
Williams was told she had three days togive back her Miss America title.
She was the first winner in history to be asked to hand back her crown.
The organization found her photos were not a good representative of the wholesome Miss America brand.
The beauty queen’s career and reputation took a major hit.
I had to learn not to take the attacks so personally,” she wrote.
However, she soon grew frustrated by the hurtful jabs and misogynistic barbs.
She even recalled confronting comedian Chris Rock over bits from an HBO comedy special.
Williams had just given birth to her third child when she got the role.
I literally went on a diet.
I considered lipo, just to be able to be on screen.
I lost a lot of weight."
She noted that she hasn’t been that thin since.
“When I get nervous I can’t eat.
People kept telling me how great I looked.
“So I was looking my best when I was the most miserable.”
Hervey was a public relations mastermind who was instrumental in getting her career back on track.
Together they launched her successful singing and acting career.
The couple had three children together and were a picture-perfect family.
Behind the scenes, their 10-year marriage was tumultuous.
In 1997, Williams opened up about the relationship in an interview with Ebony magazine.
As Williams bounced back from the damaging scandal, the dynamics of their marriage changed.
Williams noted that things weren’t the same after she gained more money and fame.
“I was very miserable,” she confessed to Ebony.
The singer soon sparked up a romance with NBA champion Rick Fox.
Williams toldThe New York Timesin 2001 that he instantly charmed her.
That was very comforting.
The two married in 1999 and welcomed one child together.
For one, the age gap between the two was something that weighed heavily on Williams.
Fox was six years younger than Williams and in the prime of his career.
“When we got married, I was 36.
At the time I worried about being too old, even though I was still very young.
He was in the NBA, which is basically another kind of show business,” Williams told Glamour.
Another issue was the distance between the two, which led them to live separate lives.
They divorced in 2004, and Williams went on to marry a businessman named Jim Skrip in 2015.
Her father, Milton Augustine Williams Jr., died unexpectedly at the age of 70.
“[His death] was devastating because it was such a shock.
She revealed that his former students and peers frequently reach out to share fond memories of him.
Vanessa also credits her father for setting a high bar for the men in her life.
“My father was my example of what I expected to find in a partner.
And that’s impossible for anyone to live up to,” she said in Glamour.
This was ostensibly an olive branch, but Williams was initially hesitant to accept.
Williams' mother, who was in the audience, was visibly emotional during the speech.
Together, they offered free health screenings for women of all ages.
This cause was personal for Williams, who lost her grandparents to heart-related issues.
“My paternal grandmother actually died at 28 of a heart attack.
My other grandmother died at 64 of a heart attack.
My grandfather died at 53 of a heart attack, and my other one at 80.
