Fans of Vanessa Williams will be shocked to learn that for years she has held onto a secret – she was molested when she was a child.
The actress, 49, has written about the disturbing incident for the first time in her memoir You Have
No Idea.
When she was just 10-years old an 18-year-old woman abused her and she says what happened to her didn’t resonate with her until much later.
She explained to People magazine: ‘Family friends who had a daughter invited me to visit their friends in California with them. The family we stayed in had two kids.’
Describing her attacker she said: ‘Susan, who was 18, smoked, drove a car and was the epitome of cool. [My friend] Nancy and I slept in the den. One night Susan crept in.’
‘She told me to lie down on the rug. I was confused. Are we going to play a game? As I tried to make sense of it, Susan pulled down the bloomers of my cotton baby-doll pajamas. “What are you doing?” I asked. “Don’t worry – it’ll feel good”’
It wasn’t until years later that Vanessa began to comprehend what had happened to her that night.
She said: ‘For years I kept Susan’s visit to myself. I didn’t really understand until college. I was with my boyfriend and it hit me and I blurted out: “Oh my god - I was molested.”’
While what had happened to her didn’t resonate at the time – she began to change her behaviour, she started to rebel.
Vanessa began to smoke marijuana, she didn’t comply with her curfew and at High School she had an abortion.
Before finding fame as TV star the Grammy-nominated singer enjoyed success in beauty pageants and the star speaks out about the process in her memoir, which she has written with her mother Helen.
But Vanessa has learnt from her experiences and says she was always honest with her children, Melanie, 24, Jillian,22, Devin, 19 and Sasha 11.
She explained: 'It was part of my journey that led me to them and to where I am today.'
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