Giving Up Her Crown
In July 1984, Williams was forced to turn in her Miss America crown after the pageant’s organization got wind of the nudes. Years later, Williams reflected on the controversy as making her feel “betrayed and violated, like I had been raped.” At the time, Playboy’s Hugh Hefner told Time magazine about the scandal, “The single victim in all of this was the young woman herself.” In a public statement immediately following the incident, Williams insisted there was more to her than just a series of racy photos, and more to her than the title of Miss America too. It wouldn’t be long before she’d prove it to the world…