Vanessa Williams Says She Was Molested by an Older Girl at Age Ten

Vanessa Williams opened up to Oprah about childhood sexual abuse she suffered (at age 10) at the hands of a teenage girl, and explained why she kept it a secret for so long.

“One night she came into the room where my friend and I were sleeping, and she told me to lie down on the floor. She took my bottoms off and she said, ‘Be quiet,’ and she went down on me,” she recounts again on the OWN show. “I knew it felt good, but also something that was not supposed to be happening.”

Williams said she was “conflicted” after it happened and wanted to speak to her family about it. But when she returned home from the trip, she discovered her father’s brother passed away, so she chose to suppress the incident.

…”I think it made me more sexually promiscuous and more sexually curious at a younger age than I should have been.”

Thanks so much to Williams for sharing her story. It’s really important to talk about these cycles of abuse and silencing. [People]

I mean…K. [E!]

• Jenny McCarthy gave her 11-year-old kid the sex talk and he was like “ew.” [Us]
• Kristen Bell doesn’t know what to name her second baby. [People]
• Linda Perry very diplomatically critiqued Beyonce’s songwriting credits. [Vulture]
• Tori Spelling says her marriage to Dean McDermott is “a work in progress.” [Radar]
• Harry Styles is NOT taking his wand in a solo erection. [Radar]
• Shakira is pregnant! [FOX]
• Katie Holmes is “AS FAR AS A DIVA AS YOU CAN GET.” (Because she stood in line once.) [JanetCharlton]
• Mila Kunis ate a hamburger. [E!]
• Sorry, female-attracted children of the ’80s. Winnie Cooper is engaged. [ContactMusic]
• Everyone’s mad at Candace Cameron Bure for doing a 5-day cleanse. [E!]
• Here’s “proof” that Prince William is “turning into” Prince Charles. (Because they both looked at a sheep once.) [Us]
• Super-suave radio host Kirk Minihane called Erin Andrews “a gutless bitch.” [E!]

Images via Getty.