1984
Vanessa Williams, the first African-American to win the title Miss America, also became the first in the pageant’s 63-year history to resign the crown after news broke that nude photos of her in sexually explicit positions with another woman would be published in the September issue of Penthouse. The photos had been taken two years before Williams was named Miss America, when she worked briefly as a makeup artist and receptionist for a little-known Mount Kisco photographer. Penthouse sold nearly 6 million copies of the issue and made a reported $14 million. Williams responded by telling People Magazine, “I am not a lesbian and I am not a slut, and somehow I am going to make people believe me.”