CNN When nude photos of a celebrity surface nowadays, it's often rumored that the star may have "leaked" them. Photos: Controversies surrounding beauty queens. Vanessa Williams stepped down in as the first black Miss America after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine. She went on to have a successful singing and acting career and has written a memoir. Hide Caption. The picture appeared on Matalon's Instagram feed on January

Williams originally made history on September 17, , when she became the first Black woman to win the Miss America crown. She attended Syracuse University and studied musical theater. In , while working a summer job as a receptionist at a modeling agency in Mt. After Williams became Miss America, the photographer sold the pictures to Penthouse without her knowledge.

Because my mind is in the past the mid-eighties and in the gutter the porn biz for reasons that will become clear, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the September issue of Penthouse. How to convey the magnitude of the frenzy? Maybe this does it. Peter Bloch, Penthouse 's then-executive editor: "It was the best-selling issue of Penthouse of all time. Hands down.