Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams, a former groundbreaking beauty queen who has reinvented herself as a fashion designer and award winning actress and singer. 

Early Accomplishments

Growing up with parents who are music teachers, Vanessa learnt to play the piano, violin, French horn as well as classical and jazz music.

During her second year at Syracuse University in 1983, she became crowned Miss Syracuse and later as Miss New York before finally announced as Miss America 1984. 

Best Known For

Asides becoming the first black woman to be crowned Miss America, she has been nominated for several Grammy awards for songs like Colors of the Wind, Save the Best for Last and The Right Stuff.

She has most notably appeared in the 1997 film, Soul Food as well as in the TV series, Ugly Betty (2006-10) and Desperate Housewives (2012-12).

Sexual Orientation

Vanessa is straight and has been married Jim Skrip since 2015. Before that she was married to Rick Fox for 5 years from 1999 and also to Ramon Hervey II from 1987 to 1997. Other men she has been romantically involved with include Rob Mack, Sam Jones and Michael Jordan.

Family

She is the older child of Milton and Helen Williams with her sibling being Chris Williams. She is the mother of 4 kids; Melanie (b. 1987), Jillian (b. 1989) and Devin Hervey (b. 1993) and Sasha Fox (b. 2000).

Religion

Vanessa was born, baptized and raised in the Catholic Church and she is still a practicing Catholic till date.

Worth To Know

She is often mistaken for another actress named Vanessa Williams. While she appeared in the Soul Food movie, the other Vanessa Williams starred in its series.

In 2007, she earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She owns her skincare products line known as Revitalistic.