Vanessa Williams’ Memoir Reveals She Was Molested As A Child

In her new memoir You Have No Idea actress Vanessa Wililams reveals that she was molested as a child by a female friend of her family.

According to Williams the incident occurred when she was just 10 years old and at the time she didn’t really understand what was going on. According to Williams an 18-year-old family friend named Susan who at the time she thought was the “epitome of cool” inappropriately touched her.

Speaking to People Williams revealed:

“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.'”

After the incident Susan told Williams:

“Don’t tell anyone.”

And until the release of her memoir she kept to that promise, barely telling a single soul about the molestation.

Williams says of that night:

“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.'”

Williams admits that the molestation likely make her a bit rebellious for a while, she admits to having smoked marijuana in high school and having an abortion her senior year.

Vanessa Williams would eventually learn to overcome her molestation and go on to become a successful actress, most recently seen in the popular TV series Desperate Housewives among various other roles over the years.