Singer and actress Vanessa Williams received a public apology from the Miss America organisers more than three decades after she was forced to resign the title.
The 52-year-old became the first African-American to win the Miss America pageant in 1983, but ten months later she was forced to hand back back the crown months after nude photographs of her surfaced.
Williams, who went on to enjoy a successful career in TV, film and music, returned to this year's competition as a celebrity judge.
After she performed a song, Sam Haskell, executive chairman of the Miss America pageant, apologised for the way she was treated three decades ago.
He said "Though none of us currently in the organisation were involved then, on behalf of today's organisation, I want to apologise to you and to your mother, Miss Helen Williams.
"I want to apologise for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the Miss America you will always be."
Williams called the apology “so unexpected but so beautiful" and told the audience "I did the best that I could as Miss America in 1983 to 84."
Since that scandal, she has forged a long career in the music business and has won a Golden Globe, Grammy and an Oscar for Best Original Song for Colors Of The Wind from the Disney film Pocahontas.
However for many, she will be best remembered for her turn as uber-bitch fashionista, Wilhemina Slater on Ugly Betty and her role as vixen, Renee Perry on Desperate Housewifes.
