Vanessa Williams Wiki, Biography, Age, Spouse, Height, Net Worth, Fast Facts

Vanessa Williams Wiki, Biography and education

Vanessa Lynn Williams was born in the Bronx, New York City, with a birth announcement that read: “Here she is: Miss America”. She was raised in Millwood, New York.

A paternal great-great-grandfather was William A. Feilds, an African-American legislator in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Williams is also of English, Welsh, Irish, Finnish, Italian, and Portuguese descent. Her mother Helen Tinch met her father Milton Augustine Williams Jr. (1935–2006) while both were music education students at Fredonia State Teachers College in the late 1950s. They both became elementary school music teachers after marriage, though their teaching positions were in separate districts. Milton also served as the assistant principal of his school for an extended period of time.

Williams was raised Catholic, the religion of her father. Her mother, who had been raised Baptist, converted to Catholicism when she got married. Williams was baptized at Our Lady of Grace Church in the Bronx. Her mother played the organ at St. Theresa’s Church in Briarcliff Manor for weddings and at Mass, and Williams used to assist her mother by turning the pages of sheet music.

Williams and her younger brother Chris (who would later become an actor) grew up in Westchester County, a predominantly white middle to upper-class suburb of New York City.^[3] Williams believes she may have been the first African-American student to go from the first grade to the 12th grade in the Chappaqua Central School District.^[5] She attended Robert E. Bell Middle School, as did her children years later. Williams revealed that the shop and home economics teachers (Mr. and Mrs. Fink) were still there when her children attended.

A child of music teachers, Williams grew up in a musical household, studying classical and jazz dance, French horn, piano, and violin. She was offered the Presidential Scholarship for Drama to attend Carnegie Mellon University during the college application period, (one of 12 students to receive it) but decided instead to attend Syracuse University on a different scholarship. Thus, in 1981, Williams joined Syracuse’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, Department of Drama as a musical theater major. She stayed at Syracuse through her second year until she was crowned Miss America 1984 in September 1983.^[

In May 2008, Syracuse granted Williams a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. According to Syracuse News, “Williams earned the remaining credits for her degree through industry experience and her substantial performances on stage and screen.”^[10] Williams also delivered the 2008 convocation address, telling Syracuse seniors to “treasure this moment. These days are irreplaceable and are the beginning of the rest of your life.”

Williams is most often publicly recognized simply as “Vanessa Williams”. There is, however, occasional confusion with the similarly named actress Vanessa E. Williams. It has been reported that Vanessa L. first became aware of Vanessa E. in the 1980s when her New York University registrar told her that another, similarly aged student with the same name and from the same state had applied.^[13][14] When Williams appeared as Miss America in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Vanessa E. accidentally received her check for the appearance, which she returned.

In the area of acting, the two ran into name conflict when Screen Actors Guild rules prohibited duplicate stage naming. Vanessa E. had registered the name “Vanessa Williams” first, so as a compromise, Williams was occasionally credited as “Vanessa L. Williams” in acting credits. To compound the confusion, both actresses starred in versions of the drama Soul Food (Williams in the film version, and Vanessa E. in its TV series adaptation). The Screen Actors Guild eventually took the issue to arbitration and decided both actresses could use the professional name “Vanessa Williams”.

Personal life

Williams and her mother Helen co-authored a memoir entitled You Have No Idea, published in April 2012. In the book, Williams discusses her childhood, rise to fame, and personal struggles (including life with type 1 diabetes), including the fact that she was sexually molested by a woman when she was ten years old. She also spoke candidly about having an abortion while she was in high school.

Williams is a practicing Catholic, something she spoke about on the ABC News program Focus on Faith with Fr. Edward L. Beck.

Williams is involved with a number of humanitarian causes. She is a supporter of LGBT rights and same sex marriage, and in 2011 participated in the human rights campaign New Yorkers for Marriage Equality. She is partnered with Dress For Success, an organization that provides professional attire for low-income women seeking employment. Williams is also involved with The San Miquel Academy of Newburgh, a school for boys at risk.

Williams has been married three times. She married Ramon Hervey II at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in 1987 just a few years after giving up her Miss America crown, and gave birth to her first child at that time. Hervey was a public relations specialist who was hired to resuscitate her career after her resignation. They had three children, Melanie, Jillian, and Devin, and divorced in 1997. She married NBA basketball player Rick Fox in 1999. They had one daughter, Sasha Gabriella Fox, and divorced in 2004. In 2015, she married Jim Skrip, a businessman from Buffalo, New York at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, after receiving a Church annulment of her first marriage.

Her daughter Jillian Hervey is an American singer, dancer and member of the group Lion Babe.

Honors and awards

Williams is the recipient of many awards and nominations including Grammy nominations for hits such as “The Right Stuff”, “Save the Best for Last”, and “Colors of the Wind”. In addition, she has earned multiple Emmy nominations, a Tony Award nomination, seven NAACP Image Awards, and four Satellite Awards.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 19, 2007.

In December 2017, Vanessa L. Williams participated at COAF Gala fundraising event, delivering a special performance of her Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning song “Colors of the Wind” and paid tribute to Patricia Field, with whom she worked on the set of the TV series Ugly Betty.

Daily Habits

Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

Net Worth

The Estimated Net worth is $80K – USD $85k.