EXCLUSIVE: How 'Desperate Housewives' Star Vanessa Williams Buried Childhood Assault to Protect Loved Ones
Vanessa Williams buried a childhood assault to protect loved ones during her early rise to fame.
March 22 2026, Updated 10:00 a.m. ET
Desperate Housewives alum Vanessa Williams revealed she "buried" being sexually abused as a child for decades to avoid upsetting her father, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
She finally opened up about the horror six years after her dad Milton Williams' death in the 2012 memoir she wrote with her mother.
Vanessa Williams Shares Childhood Trauma
Vanessa Williams said her mother told her, 'Your father could not have handled it,' when discussing the memoir.
"I didn't even mention it until my father had passed away," said the 62-year-old former Miss America.
"By the time we wrote the book together, my mother said, 'Your father could not have handled it.' Because as a father, you want to be a protector."
The Ugly Betty star was just 10 and about to enter fifth grade while on vacation with a friend when an 18-year-old girl came into her bedroom and assaulted her.
Vanessa recalled: "She was one of the cool girls. She made you want to feel like you were a grown-up. She told me to lie down on the floor. She took off my bottoms, and she said, 'Be quiet.' She went down on me."
Williams Grapples With Childhood Abuse
Williams said she was 10 when an 18-year-old girl assaulted her during a vacation.
Williams added: "I had no idea what it was, but I knew it felt good. I knew it felt good, but was also something that was not supposed to be happening.
"Because it feels good, you're like, OK, well, this is supposed to be normal. That's not normal for a 10-year-old to be seduced."
Vanessa confessed she never fully grasped the seriousness of the abuse until she was in college, but it deeply affected her.
Family Tragedy Silenced Abuse Confession
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Reflecting years later, Williams said the abuse 'awakened your sexuality at an age when it shouldn't be awakened.'
Looking back, she said: "It awakens your sexuality at an age when it shouldn't be awakened. It made me more sexually promiscuous and more sexually curious at a younger age than I should have been."
When she got back home, Vanessa thought about telling her parents about the assault but a family crisis stopped her.
"My dad was just ashen, like pale, and I knew that something had gone wrong and they said that his younger brother had died," she said.
"So, it wasn't even like I had a moment to say this happened and I feel uncomfortable. I was like, 'Okay, I'm not even going to bring that up.' I just buried it."
