You Have No Idea

After more than 30 years in the spotlight, as one of the most respected and multi-faceted performers in entertainment industry, Vanessa Williams has finally released her highly anticipated autobiography: You Have No Idea: A Famous Daughter, Her No-Nonsense Mother, and How They Survived Pageants, Hollywood, Love, Loss (and Each Other).

Vanessa Williams as Miss America

photo source

In this "tell all" memoir, co-written with her mother Helen Williams, and along with Irene Zutell, Vanessa holds nothing back. In blunt discourse Vanessa writes about her strong will in childhood, her obsessive affair with her first boyfriend, her amazement about being chosen at age 20 in 1983 as the first Miss America of African American descent. She tells of her, and her family's, fear as vicious hate mail and death threats began to roll in, both before and after the nude photo scandal that forced her to give up her Miss America title.

"Desperate Housewives" Season Finale Event

Vanessa Williams and her mother Helen Williams
Hollywood, CA, USA 04/29/2012
Andrew Evans / PR Photos- photo source

Vanessa credits her professional music-teacher father and mother for inspiring her singing, dancing and acting talents and giving her the strict, but loving, suburban New York City upbringing she often rebelled against. Vanessa gives details about making her Grammy award nominated albums, accomplishing her dream of breaking into Broadway theater, along with movie and television roles, and facts about her two marriages and four children.  Her mother Helen, meanwhile, gives her own account after each chapter of Vanessa's story, revealing facts about Vanessa's early and later life that only a mother could know. Even so, there were shocking details never revealed before in Vanessa's memoir that surprised even her mother!  Vanessa felt the time was right to reveal those facts in her memoir, as they are a part of what made her who she is today.

I enjoyed reading Vanessa Williams memoir because I remember being enthralled by her beauty and impressed by her talent when she was chosen to become Miss America, and then disappointed when she lost the title because of the scandal.  I often wondered about her side of the story, and how she was able to overcome this obstacle to her career.  I was also lucky enough to see her perform in the Broadway musicals Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1994 and the 2002 revival of Into the Woods, both of which exemplified her singing, acting and dancing talents, so I was eager to read about how she launched her Broadway career.  As a parent, I was interested to read Helen's side of the story, which showed that while we can't always control the path our children take when they are approaching adulthood and beyond, we can always be there to love and emotionally support them in their lives and maintain a meaningful relationship with them. I liked the conversational tone of the book and found myself sympathizing with Helen quite a bit, while also respecting Vanessa's work ethic and determination in accomplishing all her dreams.  If you enjoy reading memoirs about strong and accomplished women, I think you'd enjoy reading "You Have No Idea"! *

* While I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review, all opinions expressed in this review are my own and have not been influenced in any way by BlogHer or the publisher of this book.