Though she’s created a TV career based off her comedic skills, Vanessa Williams has been hiding a painful secret that has haunted her since childhood.

The actress reveals a difficult past in which she was molested by a family friend at age 10.

The admission, excerpted in this week's People magazine, comes in the “Desperate Housewives” star’s upcoming memoir, "You Don't Know.”

Williams, 49, says the fateful night that shaped much of her life afterwards occurred during a trip to visit family friends in California. The family's 18-year-old daughter snuck into the room Williams was sleeping in and allegedly pulled down the bloomers of her baby-doll pajamas.

"‘What are you doing?' I asked," writes Williams of the encounter. "'Don't worry—it'll feel good.' I lay there paralyzed. What was going on? I didn't speak. She kept at (the molestation) for I don't know how long. She slid my bloomers back up and whispered: 'Don't tell anyone.' "

Williams, a former Miss America, didn't tell anyone about the incident for many years.

"For years I kept Susan's visit to myself, I didn't really understand until college," writes Williams. "I was with my boyfriend and it hit me and I blurted out: 'Oh my God - I was molested.' "

"After that trip I felt something change in me," she notes. "I had always been defiant, but I became a bit more rebellious. I began to pull away from my parents."

Despite the horrific experience, Williams told People that she has since moved on.

"It didn't paralyze me," she tells the magazine. "And I don't dwell."

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