Vanessa Williams' Revelation of Childhood Abuse

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   gmwilliamsposted 12 years ago

   Yesterday, Vanessa Williams revealed that when she was ten years old, she was a victim of childhood abuse from a family acquaintance while staying with the friends of the latter in California.  According to Ms. Williams, this family acquaintance was her idol.   After the abuse, the family acquaintance warned her not to disclose the details of the abuse to her parents.   Ms. Williams was nonplussed regarding the incident and kept the it a secret.  She indicated that the memory of the abuse resurfaced while she attended college, adding that the abuse more her more rebellious and becoming more distant from her parents.  She maintained that she wanted to revealed incidents of the abuse to reach out to other people who underwent the same.  What is your take on this?

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   Kiss andTalesposted 12 years ago

   Well I think she is trying to find closer within herself ,I think that her family was not her way out to get this .because during those years it was was something so shamefull to a victim to talk about,and threats , back then lie was a bad word less known airing family secrets like that about family. what I have heard about such bad behavoir of family and any one else who would take the liberties of raping innocence from a child or a none consenting person is they will have to answer for there wrong doing.  the child does not forget who took this away from them. But life moves on.you are blessed to live and make yours days a happy one . many people who have done these terrible thing are not around to face there victims ,many might be dead .but you have the power to make a postive in your life and leave the rest behind in Gods hand.dont continue to victimize yourself by not allowing youself to heal because of the wrong done to you.God is the judge of all living and dead. JUDGES 5:8-9

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      gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What you have said is so true.   It is good that Vanessa is revealing this issue.  She maintained that she wants to help other children who have been abused as she was. She further stated that as a result of the abuse from a trusted family friend, she became wildly rebellious as a teenager.  She added that she used controlled substances, broke curfews, and had an abortion as a teenager.   Oprah also reported being abused by a series of relatives which resulted in her becoming sexual promiscuous as a teenager in order to alleviate the pain.  She further stated that she became pregnant; however, her baby was stillborn.

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         Stacie Lposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I'm sympathetic to abuse survivors but I'm tired of people revealing these tragedies just to revive their flailing careers. I see it over and over again..it's like a last-ditch effort...or like posing for playboy...I think shed id that also...

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            gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, she did.   She steadfastly maintained that there was a change in her personality after the abuse.  She maintained that the abuse caused her to be extremely rebellious in high school, experimenting with boys, using controlled substances, getting pregnant, and having an abortion.  She reported to being in a very, very dark place emotionally at that time!  She related that she realized that it was abuse only when she attended college!

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               Shanna11posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               The article I read on this topic was really confusing-- it said that Williams had an abortion her senior year of high school, but that she didn't even really 'realize' it had beem abuse until when she was in college and that the realization was what made her act out-- maybe it was the reporting, but I feel like she might not be possibly telling the truth. And if she is, she's using it to get attention, which I think is wrong.

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               1. 85

                  gmwilliamsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  I read the same thing in several articles on the subject. Vanessa Williams  maintained that she became wild as a result of the abuse.  She further relayed that she got pregnant and had an abortion in high school. Correct.  She purported that she did not realize that what the family friend did was considered abuse until she had an epiphany in college. 
                  
                  She also never told of her parents of the abuse.  It is apparent that she internalized the trauma of the abuse which I believe explained her wild high school behavior(she stated during an interview in a magazine that she was so wild and defied her parents so many times regarding their rules that she was grounded all through high school, adding her parents further punished her by dismantling her bedroom door of its hinges, stating that she did not deserve any privacy because of her misdeeds) and the subsequent photo scandal which caused her to lose her Miss America crown.  Whatever happened, the only person who knows about the real details of the abuse and its subsequent effects is Ms. Williams and no one else, not even her mother!

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