Posted on 09/18/2005 3:54:53 PM PDT by Hildy
LOS ANGELES - The producers of "Extreme Makeover" promised Deleese Williams "a Cinderella-like" fix for a deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and tiny boobs that would "transform her life and destiny." But when the ABC reality show dumped the Texas mom the night before the life-changing plastic surgeries, it shattered her family's dream and triggered her sister Kellie McGee's suicide, says a bombshell lawsuit filed in L.A. Superior Court.
As part of the premakeover hype, producers coaxed McGee and other family members to trash Williams' looks on videotape, the suit alleges. When they suddenly pulled the plug on the project, and the promised "Hollywood smile like Cindy Crawford," a guilt-ridden McGee fell apart.
"Kellie could not live with the fact that she had said horrible things that hurt her sister. She fell to pieces. Four months later, she ended her life with an overdose of pills, alcohol and cocaine," said Wesley Cordova, a lawyer for Williams.
"This family is shredded. There is a human cost to this," Cordova said.
Williams, 30, and her husband, Mike, are raising McGee's two children, along with two kids of their own. The suit seeks unspecified money damages for breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other offenses.
"Deleese is so hurt and humiliated, she won't leave the house now. She grocery shops at midnight," Cordova says.
ABC declined to comment on the allegations.
The show announcing Williams' selection for a mega makeover had already aired on Jan. 7, 2004, when the producers abruptly dropped her because the dental surgeon told them her recovery time would be longer than expected, Cordova said.
Williams was alone in a Los Angeles hotel room reading her pre-op instructions when a producer showed up and dashed her dream of a new life with a "pretty" face, the suit alleges.
"You will not be getting an extreme makeover after all. . . . Nothing. It doesn't fit in our time frame. You will have to go back to Texas tomorrow," the suit alleges she was coldly told.
Williams broke down sobbing: "How can I go back as ugly as I left? I was supposed to come home pretty," the suit says.
The 31-page complaint begins with the line "Deleese Williams is considered ugly."
It details a horrendous tale of pain and humiliation that began when she applied for the reality show in December 2003 and had to submit a "full body shot" video showing "all of the body parts that need help."
For years, Williams' friends and family "didn't notice or pretended not to notice" her homely looks, but once she got picked for the show, they were coached to focus on nothing but her physical flaws, the suit says.
In McGee's taped interview, she tried to play up her sister's good points. But the hard-nosed producers "peppered Kellie with questions about her childhood with the ugly Deleese . . . and repeatedly put words in her mouth," the suit says.
To please the producers, Williams' mother-in-law also laid it on thick. "She said things like 'I never believed my son would marry such an ugly woman.' " Cordova says.
The family's comments never aired on TV, but Williams, who was in an adjoining room, heard them all.
The experience ruined her family life.
"Now that she returned in the same condition in which she left, there were no secrets, no hidden feelings, no reward," the suit says.
McGee's "guilt was overwhelming." She OD'd on May 25, 2004, four months after the show's producers sent her sister packing.
"These programs are cheap to produce - there are no actors or screenwriters to pay. But there is a very high human cost," Cordova said.
I said they were a horrible family as the Mother in law said she never thought hre son would marry such an ugly person, the sister committs suicide with a drug OD and they are suing saying it is over the disappointment about her sister, who now has a guilt trip. I agree, ABC should have paid for the surgeries even if not on TV, they could have afforded to do that.
Yes, you are very lucky.
Think Extreme Home Make Over. They would watch it. In droves.
ROTFL. Don't even get me started on him. He's a hoot.
You are, of course, correct, I should have been more accurate with my wording.
Huh??? This suit is absurd. How many other people has ABC dropped from consideration? I would bet she was not the only one. If this "ugly" woman's life was "destroyed" from not getting the plastic surgery she dreamed of, then the entire culture of looks-worship is to blame, not just ABC. "How can I go back as ugly as I left? I was supposed to come home pretty." Is this what America has come down to? Is our spiritual life so devoid that this is all we value? What about people who are disfigured from fires or chemicals, mutilated soldiers? There are millions of Americans worse off than this woman is.
The so-called "entertainment" industry lives the fantasies they portray to the rest of the world and haven't been able to seperate themselves from that never-neverland since at least the beginnings of the 'Hollywierd' era. They fantasize so much they are a fantasy. An irrationality. A false image of what they created of their "reality".
Nah, you won't catch hell from me. For 36 years I've wished I didn't have a brother. You play with the cards you're dealt.
No but I am going to be in trouble with my husband. I forgot to log him off when I made that post. His sisters are probably wondering why he doesn't like them.
Sorry this is late--I was putting my kids to bed. :)
I think I know what you mean, I don't really blame my parents; they did the best they could. I really don't fault them--we all do the best we can with what we're given.
Maybe I shouldn't say this on a public forum, but the reality is, for me and my sister, our mother was just not there. She drank, and was depressed. I only told my mother I had my period when I was fifteen years old--I got it at age twelve--and that was only because she was getting ready to bring me to the gynecologist.
My sister (she's younger) looked to me as a mother figure, and I think that even today, if I can't be the ideal that she wants, she gets mad.
And as for competition between siblings--oh boy. I was the "smart one" and my sister was the "pretty one." She developed anorexia in high school and even today, when I'm a housewife and she's got two Master's degrees and has a high profile job in government, she still feels inadequate, like she wants to be the "smart one."
Oddly enough, I try to look my best and it's almost like she's deliberately frumpy in her middle age, LOL!
It's a shame your siblings treat you like that--it sounds to me like you've lived your life in a way you can be proud of. It's admirable, to me, to join the military and then actually work and get an idea of the real world, before going into college.
p.s., I love the idea of a hotel or disney. :) It's kind of like the "In case of emergency" fire switch, LOL!
And, best of luck with pursuing a healthier lifestyle. You'll be in my prayers.
this is the second-most stupid response anyone could give... it's right in line after: "well, if you don't know, i'm not telling you."
yes--i liked that show, The Scholar... although the questions they asked in the final rounds were far from scholarly...
Yikes! I would hate to have a legal document stating that!
More unreal reality. Reality shows have become so contrived that they no longer work. I bet we see much less of them in the future.
Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone.
THIS is ugly:
(Quentin Matsys, "The Ugly Duchess". Margaretha, Duchess of Carinthia, also known as Margaretha Maultasch (Margaret Pocket-Maw). She was the model for John Tenniel's illustration of the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland, and the subject of a novel by Lion Feuchtwanger.)
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