Ebony (October 1997)

Vanessa L. Williams
On Her Painful Divorce, The Pressures Of Superstardom And Her New Life As A Single Mom

by Lynn Norment

Vanessa L. Williams is in the enviable position of being one of the most talented and diverse artists in the world of entertainment, having found success on the silver screen, on the stage and in the recording world. "Finally I have a choice of great, diverse roles," she says, "There are Black women stars now who are making money and who are bringing money in. It doensn´t have to be just a Black film. Black women can be in any kind of situation."

Pondering the words to describe herself, VanessaWilliams leans back on the sofa in the family room of her Westchester County, N.Y., home, surrounded by children's toys, and reflects for a moment. "I'm assertive, still constantly challenged, and I'm happy," she says.

Then, to illustrate her words, she puts on he video for "Happiness" from her new album. In it a goddess like Williams dances and prances through the garden of a great mansion while embodying the sentiment she expresses in the song. She says hitmakers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis created the song for her, that her feelings were so clear that Lewis wrote the lyrics in just 40 minutes.

"Terry asked me how I felt, and I said, 'Terry, I'm just happy,'" she recalls. "'Happiness is what's it all about.' And I'm very entitled to this happiness."

And that she is.

While this beautiful, 34-year-old woman is blissful now, it was not always that way. In fact, she admits that just a few years ago, even a year ago, she would not have described herself as such. Not before she finally called it quits to a 10-year marriage that she desperately tried to save and considered herself a failure when it finally fell apart three years ago. "It was a painful separation, a painful divorce," she says, and it left her feeling humiliated, hurt and shattered emotionally. But she has survived the ordeal with her self-esteem, her dignity, her career, her life intact.

Vanessa Williams is nothing if not a survivor. The film, stage and recording star has endured more than her share of triumphs and tribulations, including being the first Black woman crowned Miss America (1984), only to have the crown and title taken away after a magazine published explicit photo-graphs of her.

But Vanessa survived that humiliation and triumphed by proving that she has the talent, guts and resolve to overcome scandal and disappointment. She has demonstrated repetedly that success is the best revenge by building a diverse career that utilizes the God-given talents that were nurtured by loving parents, honed by childhood dance and music lessons and fine-tuned during her studies at Syracuse University.

After being crowned Miss America, she endured criticism from some Blacks that she was "not Black enough," and insults from Whites who were not happy to see a Black woman wear the prized symbol of all-American beauty. And then she set about building a show-business career while hampered by controversy and the stigma of being a beauty queen.

But Williams persevered and today is considered one of the brightest, most talented artists of her generation. She currently is starring in the critically aclaimed Soul Food, and also co-starring with Laurence Fishburne in Hoodlum. And her new album, Next, is gracing the music charts.

Williams' career has skyrocketed since she recieved rave reviews for her 1994 starring role in the Broadway musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which was followed with her performing "Colors Of The Wind" on the platinum, Academy Award-winning soundtrack to Disney's Pocahontas, and by starring in the television miniseries The Odyssey, and playing opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1996 action-thriller Eraser, which made more than $100 million.

"Arnold said to me, 'Your career is very similar to mine because people didn't take us seriously at first. They knew us for our bodies, Mr. Universe and Miss America, and they had no idea what we really wanted to do with our lives, so they wrote us off. You showed them that you have guts.' And he admired that," Williams says, "because he loves strong women."

She recently completed filming the ballroom dance musical Shut up and dance [later Dance with me], due out in February. In the meantime, Williams is touring with Luther Vandross, a longtime friend. Offers continue to pour in, but after the tour, Williams wants to stay in the New York area and spend the school year with her children--Melanie, 10, Jillian, 8, and Devin, 4.

During a concert, Vanessa performs with songwriter and artist Kenneth (Babyface) Endmonds, who is executive producer of her new movie, Soul Food.

Vanessa met her former husband, Ramon Hervey, when he was a public relations specialist brought in to consult with her during the Miss America flack. He was 33--older, experienced and savvy in the ins-and-outs of the entertainment world. They fell in love and married two years later. Soon after she started having children, while at the same time pursuing a career with Hervey as her manager.

Understandably, Williams is reluctant to divulge details of the problems that led to her divorce, but friends of the entertainer confirms rumours circulating in entertainment circles that for years she endured a number of marital problems, including the usual ones involving competition from other women. Ironically, in Soul Food, Vanessa plays a character who is having marital problems.

"It's one thing to forgive once, but when a pattern of behavior that is dangerous for my health, embarrassing and humiliating for me and my family, and I'm working my ass off, it's intolerable," says Williams. "We started marriage counseling in 1989 or 1990. The dynamics changed as I got bigger and bigger and made more money...," she says, pausing to find the right words to articulate her feelings. "If a person is not into kids when you get married, then all you can do is hope and pray...It's very hard to change a person into being equally passionate."

Williams says she stayed in the marriage long after she knew it was over because she so much wanted her marriage to work." And then, also being Catholic, and being on the cover of Ebony with the family, and having to say, 'This is not the ideal family that we portrayed on that cover. He isn't all what he's expected to be. You know, I didn't make the right choice.' It's failure. Failure is humiliating."

Vanessa says all this without a hint of bitterness. But she admits that at times, during most of her marriage, "I was very miserable."

She acknowledges that there are those who would say that Hervey came into her life at a low point and made her the success she is today. To them she says: "There's a reason why I won Miss America--because of my talent, and now I'm getting the opportunities to do what I've always wanted to do. We certainly worked as a team," she says of the early years of her marriage. "But he [Hervey] did not create a singer. He did not teach me how to sing, how to dance, how to act. We worked very hard together as a team to make sure that the choices for my career could happen."

She says without Hervey, she still would have had her career success. "I would have gone through the same amount of press scrutiny, but once the dust settles, it doesn't negate your talent, and it didn't take away my fire and desire to prove and to work," she says.

Williams also acknowledges that she perhaps shares some of the faults for the failure of the marriage. "Maybe I spent too much time with my kids. Maybe I didn't spend enough time with my husband or make him my first priority...Marriage is a partnership and it does take some give-and-take, but it also takes constant support and understanding and communication. Some people just don't handle certain types of stress the way others might."

The way she handled the stress, she reveals, was by working out incessantly and not eating. "I'd get on the treadmill and do an hour. My stomach was too tense," she says. "When I get nervous, I can't eat. People kept telling me how great I looked. But your clothes are falling off, and you can't face another day. So I was looking my best when I was the most miserable."

But misery does not reside in Vanessa's life and heart anymore. Along with a booming career and a busy family life, she has found a new love. She prefers not to reveal his name, but she acknowledges that he is a screenwriter based in New York whom she met in Turkey while filming The Odyssey. "Yes, I'm seeing somebody who is very bright and intelligent and funny," she says, smiling broadly. "He makes me laugh, and it's a different type of relationship...But I don't have any intention of getting married, contrary to the gossip."

Besides an intense work schedule, what consumes most of Williams' time and energy are her three energetic children. When she is on location making a movie, they stay with her when possible. She says she chose to move back to Westchester County near her parents and her childhood home because she wants her children to have as normal a life as possible, and that was not feasible in Hollywood. The girls take music lessons from Vanessa's parents, both music teachers, as well as dance lessons from the same instructors that tutored Vanessa as a child. They also ski and take riding lessons.

She says as a mother, she simply wants her children to be happy, to finish college, to be hard workers and not take money and privileges for granted. For the past two years, she has been living in temporary quarters while the turn-of-the-century, fieldstone farmhouse she purchased several years ago is being gutted and rebuilt into her dream house. She proudly walks through the construction site, pointing out where the children's bedrooms will be located, as well as her master bedroom and study and workout room. Out back the swimming pool and Jacuzzi have already been built, and she points to the location where the tennis court will be built. The huge, sloping front lawn with pond was once a pasture.

Vanessa says she is now at peace, and she just wants to find more choice, juicy roles to display her talent, and more time to spend with her children. Taking in consideration past experiences, there is no doubt that this self-assured woman can handle whatever comes her way--all the success, all the obstacles, all the challenges, all the love. "In my personal life, I just want less drama," she says. "I want someone who is going to cherishme. That's what I'm looking for."

At her alma mater, Vanessa Williams receives the George Arents Pioneer Medal (alumni award) from Syracuse University Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw. After performing at the SuperBowl festivities, the entertainer posed with her former husband, Ramon Hervey, and their three children, Melanie, Jillian and Devin. The couple, now divorced, share custody of the children.