Vanessa Williams was "so naive" early on in her career
The 61-year-old star made history as the first black woman to be crowned Miss America in 1984 and is these days known for her roles in 'Ugly Betty' and 'Desperate Housewives' but endured a lot of "pressure, shame, judgment" in the early years of her career when X-rated photos of her were leaked
27 July 2024
She told People: "There was a tremendous amount of onus, pressure, shame, judgment.
"Had there been an internet to break back then. I took all that on as a 21 year old. It was global. You can fail quietly, but that was a worldwide fail.
"I look back at my 19-to 20-year-old self and think, 'Oh my God you were so naive, so trusting, so vulnerable.
"In your mind you think, 'I'm old, I know what I'm doing.' I give myself grace now, but as a young adult, I beat myself up, like 'I should have known better."
The 'Hannah Montana: The Movie' star - who has Melanie, 37, Jillian, 35, and Devin, 31, with first husband Ramon Hervey II as well as Sasha, 24, with Rick Fox - got through the scandal with the support of her "tremendous family" but admitted that her kids these days have no idea how she coped with it all at such a young age.
She said: "Luckily I have a tremendous family.
"They're all older than I was now, but the fact that I became famous at 20 years old relative to their lives and having death threats and having to go through breaking a huge hurdle and what the repercussions of that .
"[They're like] 'Wow, how did you handle all this mom at 20?'. Then I look back at my twenty year old self and say, 'My God, I was a baby.."
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