The Human Rights Campaign honored Vanessa Williams, pictured with HRC
president Joe Solmonese, with an Ally for Equality award earlier this
year. Photo: Jeffrey Holmes/HRC.
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By Dustin Fitzharris
Friday, October 03, 2008
If Republican VP candidate Gov. Sarah Palin taught Americans anything this month, it’s that the only difference between a pit bull and a hockey mom is lipstick. But what if the tough-talking Palin had to take her lipstick and go toe to toe with Wilhelmina Slater—a woman as bitchy and cold as her Alaskan hometown—in a race for the White House?
“Wilhelmina ruling the world? Oh boy,” Vanessa Williams, who just got out of hair and makeup, said with a laugh. “She’d certinally be efficent and would cut out all of the riff-raff.”
And Williams would know. The singer/actress received an Emmy nomination this year for her potrayal of magazine editor Wilhelmina on the ABC hit comedy, “Ugly Betty.” Last week, Williams and the rest of the cast returned for a third season.
But you’d be happy (or maybe not) to know that the “Save the Best for Last” songstress is nothing like the diva she plays. She only admits to having one “Wilhelmina moment.”
“I had my manicurist—my Brazilian gal—flown in overnight from New York to L.A. because I knew there wasn’t going to be a salon in L.A. that would be good enough,” Williams said.
Williams, 45, is native of Westchester, N.Y., and a mother of four who says she’s ready to cast her vote for Barack Obama.
“I would love to see him win. I think it would be great for our nation and worldwide,” Williams said.
Williams had a chance to meet the senator in his office while working on an event with the Special Olympics, one of her many charities.
“His office was warm, inviting and sunny, and his temperment and personality were exactly the same,” Williams said. “He’s very intellegent and grounded, and I was impressed. [Electing Obama] would be a gigantic change in our nation’s attitudes.”
But are Americans ready for that kind of change?
”I think the country is definitely ready, and it’s about time,” Williams said.
The country was certinaly ready for change in 1983 when Williams became the first African-American Miss America. With the crown, however, came the death threats, racist hate mail and the most publicized scandal in the pagent’s history. Just two months before Williams’ reign came to an end, she resigned after Penthouse magazine published nude photos of her that were taken before she entered the pagent.
Looking back, Williams said, that whole period feels like an “out-of-body experience.”
“Twenty-five years ago is a long time ago. It was a whilwind year,” Williams said. “As much as I don’t realize how big of a deal it was, I do get to catch glimpses when people pull me aside and say, ‘You’ll always be my Miss America.’ That usually comes from African-American people who never thought they would see one at that point in their lives.”
Since she was a little girl, Williams had been groomed to overcome racial barriers. She said growing up in a predominately white environment, she noticed early on that people didn’t look like her. Around the second or third grade, her mother pulled her aside and told her that no matter what she did, she had to do it even better than others just to be considered equal.
Those lessons on equality extended into the gay community. With both parents having their master’s in music and being active in the arts, Williams was always surrounded by gay people.
“Tolerance was just part of what was required in our household. There was no judgement,” Williams said. “That is so important, whether it’s sex, religion or lifestyle choices.”
Earlier this year, Human Rights Campaign honored Williams with its “Ally for Equality” award for her tireless efforts in the LGBT Community. She spoke at the group’s local N.Y.C. fundraising dinner.
And if one of Williams’ children were to come to her, she said she wouldn’t think anything of it.
“It wouldn’t be an issue. My kids would be very comfortable coming out,” Williams said. “They are comfortable in their own skin and would be comfortable knowing that they would have acceptance all around.”
Having “unconditional love” is something Williams believes is important, and she doesn’t limit that to just her children. She said it’s something that extends to being a wife and an ex-wife.
Williams has been married twice. She married her former manager Ramon Hervey in 1987. The couple divorced in 1997. Two years later, she tied the knot with basketball star Rick Fox. They amiably divorced in 2004.
Regardless of the heartache she endured, feeling like a “failure” with love, Williams sure has found sccuess singing about it. But has she learned anything?
“Once you open your heart to someone, it’s opened, and it’s hard to close the doors, whether you’re married or not,” Williams said. “The bottom line is to have compassion and empathy for everyone’s struggles in life. That makes loving them easier, but it comes with time, heartache and lots of lessons.”
One of the biggest lessons Williams said she’s learned is to be still and surrender. In 2006, her father passed away and she was offered the role of Wilhelmina. She turned it down and traveled to Egypt to spend time with her family to mourn. While away, “Ugly Betty” signed another actress. When Williams returned to the states, the show came knocking again—they had fired the other actress and made another plea. This time she signed on.
“Ugly Betty” is not the only thing keeping Williams’ schedule full. This fall she will release a new CD of the ballads she’s known for, but it will also have a jazz and Latin feel. If Williams had her way, the album would have revisited her dance roots, which helped her burst onto the music scene in 1988 with “The Right Stuff.” That idea was DOA with record companies, who can only fathom her singing ballads and are looking to make the most money as possible. Perhaps they are not aware of the gay following Williams has and how much those fans love to dance.
She said, “Hopefully my next project I can get a gay producer who will embrace my desire. Then I’d be very happy.”
For the all the latest Vanessa Williams news, visit her brand new website, vanessawilliams.com.
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