Vanessa Williams to Return to Miss America as Judge
Williams was crowned Miss America 1984, but was forced to resign after scandal.
— -- Vanessa Williams, the first African-American Miss America, will return to the Miss America pageant as a judge for its 95th competition this year.
Williams was crowned Miss America 1984, but was forced to resign after nude photos she'd taken earlier in life surfaced.
“It was two drastically different images. That was the issue. It was Miss America who's really kind of untouched in that reality. And then there was this woman in a picture,” Williams said in an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts to air on "Good Morning America" Thursday.
“That was exactly the polar opposite of purity. And I was a normal kid in the middle.”
Williams resigned 10 months after being crowned, and said the scandal is something she’s always had to live with.
"That's one of the problems that I've had to deal with for … my career. Not only being a Miss America, but being a scandalous Miss America," she said.
Williams, 52, went on to become a Grammy, Emmy and Tony nominated singer and actress. The mother of four married Jim Skrip on July 4 in a secret ceremony.
The 2016 Miss America pageant airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
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