--- description: July 23, 1984: Vanessa Williams resigns as Miss America after Penthouse magazine announces it will publish photos of her posing nude title: Why Vanessa Williams Gave Up Her Miss America Crown image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45fb4aed78063ca3/69885b2f196cf45a4f03721e/williams.jpeg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Scandal That Cost a Miss America Her Crown by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 23, 2015 2:30 PM CUT  Vanessa Williams resigns her Miss America title, July 23, 1984, in New York City. Vanessa Williams resigns her Miss America title, July 23, 1984, in New York City.Yvonne Hemsey—Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 23, 2015 2:30 PM CUT It might have been the lowest point in her life, as [she told _People_](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088398,00.html "undefined") in 1984, but the scandal that led Vanessa Williams to resign her post as Miss America also set her up for one of the greatest comebacks in entertainment history. On this day, July 23, in 1984, then-21-year-old Williams handed over her crown — making her both the first black Miss America and the first to give up the title — after _Penthouse_ announced that it would publish raunchy photos she had posed for two years earlier while working as a photographer’s assistant. The photographer had assured her at the time, she told _People,_ that the photos were merely silhouettes, in which she’d be unidentifiable and that they would never leave the studio. But they did leave the studio, partly because she _was_ identifiable: photos of Miss America in compromising positions, some of them involving another nude woman, were worth their weight in gold. [TIME reported](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,926740,00.html "undefined") that the photographer was paid more than _Penthouse_ had ever paid for a photo spread before. The pageant’s organizers were [aghast at the images](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,921751-1,00.html "undefined"), which appeared in _Penthouse_’s September 1984 issue with the headline, “Miss America: Oh, God, She’s Nude!” The magazine’s publisher had little compunction about printing them over Williams’ objections. _Playboy_, meanwhile, took the moral high ground: it had been offered the photos first, but turned them down partly in deference to Williams — and partly because, per TIME, “it does not use what Spokesman Dave Salyers calls lesbian material.” Hugh Hefner emphasized the former rationale in explaining _Playboy_’s restraint, calling the publication of Williams’ nude photos “immoral” and “improper.” “The single victim in all of this was the young woman herself, whose right to make this decision was taken away from her,” TIME quoted Hefner as saying. “If she wanted to make this kind of statement, that would be her business, but the statement wasn’t made by her.” The statement that Williams ultimately made was that she was more than a racy photo spread — and more than Miss America. The title had never been a dream of hers, as [TIME attested](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,952183-2,00.html "undefined") just after she won the competition. A musical theater major at Syracuse University, she’d entered the pageant circuit for practical reasons. “She wanted the scholarship money ($25,000),” TIME explained, “and she wanted the exposure. She wants to be a star.” While the exposure she got was not the type she wanted, she became a star on her own terms, as a Grammy-nominated singer and an actress with prominent roles in _Ugly Betty_ and _Desperate Housewives_, among others. Although she initially filed a lawsuit against _Penthouse_ and the photographer who’d burned her, she quickly dropped it and forged ahead with her career ambitions, hoping, she said, to make a name for herself without dragging the scandal along in her wake. She presumed karma would pick up where legal action left off. “I just wanted to get on with my life,” [she told _People_](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20119453,00.html "undefined") in 1989\. “So many people have gotten burned by those people that I think they’ll eventually get it in the end and die a slow, painful death.” **_Read more from 1984, here in the TIME archives_**: [There She Goes, Miss America](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,921751-1,00.html "undefined") ### See The 10 Funniest Faces of Past Miss America Winners  Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson (R) from Virginia reacts with first runner up Kelli Bradshaw (L) from North Carolina, after Johnson was named Miss America 1999 in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Sept. 21, 1998. Reuters  Former Miss America Angela Perez Baraquio, top, crowns Miss Oregon Katie Harman as Miss America 2002, during the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. on Sept. 22, 2001. Charles Rex Aebogast—AP  Miss New York Mallory Hytes Hagan reacts as she is announced Miss America 2013 on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2013, in Las Vegas. Isaac Brekken—AP  Miss America contestant, Miss New York Nina Davuluri reacts after being chosen winner of the 2014 Miss America Pageant as 2013 Miss America Mallory Hagan places a tiara on her head in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sept. 15, 2013. Lucas Jackson—Reuters  Miss Oklahoma Jennifer Berry reacts with Miss Georgia Monica Pang (R) after being named Miss America 2006 at the conclusion of the Miss America pageant in Las Vegas on Jan. 21, 2006 Susan L. Gregg—Reuters  Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan (R), 17, reacts after being announced Miss America 2011 during the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada on Jan. 15, 2011. Steve Marcus—Reuters/Corbis  Ericka Dunlap, left, reacts after being named Miss America 2004 as she is embrace by first runner-up Kanoelani Gibson on Sept. 20, 2003, in Atlantic City, N.J. Brian Branch-Price—AP  Tara Dawn Holland (R), Miss Kansas, reacts upon being named Miss America 1997, as she hugs second runner-up Kimberly Massaro, Miss Missouri, on Sept. 15, 1996 in Atlantic City, NJ. Tom Mihalek—AFP/Getty Images  Shawntel Smith, Miss Oklahoma reacts as she is named Miss America 1996 as she hugs first runner up Miss Oregon, Emily Orton, on Sept. 16, 1995 in Atlantic City N.J. Reuters  Newly-crowned Miss America, Phyllis George reacts to the announcement of her title on Sept. 12, 1970 in Atlantic City, N.J. 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