Vanessa Williams did not have it easy growing up. Her situation was so dire at times yet her family had no idea. All this according to her upcoming memoir “You Have No Idea”
The “Desperate Housewives” star told Nightline that she had been molested at age 10 and that she also had an abortion when she was in high school.
Speaking about the abortion Williams said,
“Being pregnant is the most frightening thing that happens in your life. I knew in high school that’s something that I was not prepared to do, or fight, or struggle with.”
Williams, who wrote the book with the help of her mother, said it was a decision that she has a real difficult time accepting.
“I’ve learned to embrace my past,” Williams said. “I embrace the choices that I have been given in my life.”
Williams, who is also a previous Miss America winner, admitted that she was molested as a child, In a part of the book she shared with People Magazine she describe how a family friend’s 18 year old daughter would come over to her room while she was sleeping and touch her inappropriately after undressing her.
Williams wrote of the incident,
“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.”
Vanessa Williams is telling the world what happened to her so she could move on and get it behind her.