BBC Online :
Organisers of the Miss America pageant have apologised to actress Vanessa Williams, 32 years after she was forced to hand back her title.
Williams was the first black woman to be named Miss America in 1983 but resigned after a magazine published nude photos of her without her consent.
“I want to apologise for anything that was said or done,” said Miss America CEO Sam Haskell.
A tearful Williams called the statement “unexpected” and “beautiful”.
Now 52, she has forged a career as an actress, with major roles in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.
She also scored a global hit in 1992 with the ballad Save the Best for Last; and her recording of Colors of the Wind from Disney’s Pocahontas soundtrack earned her a Golden Globe, a Grammy and an Oscar for best original song.
The New Yorker won Miss America in September 1983 but, months later, the pageant’s executive committee voted unanimously to request that she resign after Penthouse magazine published naked photographs she has posed for several years earlier,
Williams remains the only title-holder who was asked to resign in the pageant’s history.
She was invited back to the competition this year by Chairman Sam Haskell, who asked her to serve as head judge.
Organisers of the Miss America pageant have apologised to actress Vanessa Williams, 32 years after she was forced to hand back her title.
Williams was the first black woman to be named Miss America in 1983 but resigned after a magazine published nude photos of her without her consent.
“I want to apologise for anything that was said or done,” said Miss America CEO Sam Haskell.
A tearful Williams called the statement “unexpected” and “beautiful”.
Now 52, she has forged a career as an actress, with major roles in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.
She also scored a global hit in 1992 with the ballad Save the Best for Last; and her recording of Colors of the Wind from Disney’s Pocahontas soundtrack earned her a Golden Globe, a Grammy and an Oscar for best original song.
The New Yorker won Miss America in September 1983 but, months later, the pageant’s executive committee voted unanimously to request that she resign after Penthouse magazine published naked photographs she has posed for several years earlier,
Williams remains the only title-holder who was asked to resign in the pageant’s history.
She was invited back to the competition this year by Chairman Sam Haskell, who asked her to serve as head judge.
