McCall´s (April 1992)
VANESSA WILLIAMS
extraordinary
comeback
The deposed Miss America 1984 talks to contributing editor Deborah Norville about having kids and turning her life around.
There are two things you notice upon meeting Vanessa Williams: How strikingly beautiful she is, and how unaffected she seems by it all - by her beauty; by her celebrity and by nude photos printed in Penthouse magazine that cost her the Miss America crown in 1984.
While "Former Miss America" is a title Williams acknowledges she'll probably always be saddled with, the 29-year-old singer and actress is building a career in which she takes much greater pride. Her current album, Comfort Zone, has seen two singles hit the top two spots on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues chart, and her performance of "Runnin' Back to You" has been nominated for a Grammy (her debut album also earned three Grammy nominations). Williams is now winning the respect of an industry that initially dismissed her as a joke.
It wasn't easy. Part of the credit goes to Ramon Hervey II, now Williams' husband and manager, whom she met just hours before resigning her title. He guided Williams through the dark days, steering her away from exploitative acting offers and toward music. Now, almost eight years later, Williams hosts a weekly music video program on VH-1. And there's talk of a concert tour.
But Williams' greatest achievement is, she says, her two daughters, Melanie, age four, and Jillian, age two. When career conflicts with family-as was the case when a recent video shoot coincided with Melanie's piano recital-family wins. Williams is planning to move from glitzy Los Angeles to the New York City suburbs where she grew up-a better place, she says, to nurture the "normal" family life she has careftilly built, and treasures.
