Beauty ‘trusted photographer’

Press, 24 July 1984, Page 11

Beauty ‘trusted photographer’

NZPA-AP New York Vanessa Williams, the reigning “Miss America,” says that she does not remember ever signing a release for nude photographs taken of her two years ago, and that the pictures were to have been private. The pictures, to be published in the September issue of “Penthouse” magazine, prompted “Miss America” pageant officials to request her resignation. She was to announce her decision at a news conference today, but declined to reveal it yesterday. “I guess no-one owns the right to the pictures. It’s a legal question,” she said. “I don’t recall signing anything with Tom (Chiapel, who took the photos). I remember signing a ‘stat sheet’ as a model. Every model at the registry had to fill one out.” Miss Williams said that she was assured by Mr Chiapel that the pictures — showing her in intimate positions with another woman — were to be artistic photographs, never to be shown publicly, and that she would not be identifiable in them. She said that when she informed Albert Marks, executive director of the pageant, that she had heard a rumour the pictures would be published, he had told her, “He had heard a ru-

mour that I would be in ‘Playboy.’ He said he heard about it a few months ago, and didn’t think anything about it.” Mr Marks had been “very reassuring” when she talked to him on Monday, adding, “We all make mistakes. He was very supportive and compassionate.” According to the “Penthouse” publisher, Bob Guccione, who bought the pictures from Mr Chiapel, the magazine does have a signed release. Miss Williams said that she had gone to work for Mr Chiapel as a make-up artist and receptionist in June, 1982, after her freshman year at Syracuse University in New York state. "Tom had expressed nude photography and asked me if I’d do it. I had never done it before. I was a bit curious, but I didn’t know if I wanted to take the chance.” She said that she did a session with .him after he had assured her they would be seen only by her. When she saw a contact sheet, she said, “I wasn’t really thrilled about them. I didn’t want anyone to see them.” Miss Williams, aged 21, the first black to win the title, is the first “Miss America” to be asked to abdicate. Contest officials decided on Saturday to give her 72 hours to resign after dis-

cussing the matter in two meetings last week. They said that the content of the photographs had left them no choice but to ask for her resignation. Pageant officials feared that the publication of the photographs would hurt the ’“wholesome” image of the contest. They said that they had asked Miss Williams to resign because the photographs had breached clauses in her contract concerning morals and upholding the pageant’s image. Suzette Charles, the first runner-up in the pageant last year, said that she was prepared to honour her contract with the pageant that would require her to serve out the term of “Miss America.” “My commitment is to the pageant first,” said Miss Charles, who is also black, shortly after she learned of the pageant’s decision to ask Miss Williams to quit. Miss Williams said that she did not recall doing the photo session until she recently found out about the planned “Penthouse” spread. Mr Chiapel had told her that he wanted to pose her with another model “in a silhouette art form. He assured us that both of us would be unidentifiable ... he assured' me nothing would happen and I trusted him.”