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.
With all this PC bull***t and the liberal judges and courts in California, you never know what this woman might get.
Thy maiden doth have a homely visage, but none worst than thy witch Hillary.
OMG that is horrible. I don't think I'd be able to watch the show anymore knowing how cold hearted they are. They make themselves out to be a God send to these people and yet to coldly turn away one you've promised a new life to is unforgivable.
Her sister tho should have had more fortitude with babies to raise. Nothing tops raising your children.
My husband and I actually bought a house two yards away from my childhood home, and my parents still live in it. It's cool, cause my dad will just wander over in the evenings, and sit for hours talking and drinking coffee.
I'd say that there is some family member at my house at least three nights a week, if not more.
Precisely. I've known women whose looks were far worse who got along just fine in life. In fact, there was one girl in my high school class that upon first sight might have been supposed to have nothing at all going for her. She was overweight, had big thighs and her face wasn't exactly what you'd call lovely. Nonetheless, she always had a boyfriend, and not one from the nerdy set, either. I think that was because she was bright, outgoing, empathetic and vivacious. I don't know what happened to her, but I can imagine she made some guy a hell of a lot better wife and mother than Miss Drop-dead Gorgeous could ever have done.
"The evil that Hillary did lives after her, the good is oft interred in Ft. Marcy Park."
If you read her profile, you could.
Reality TV - now there's an oxymoron for you.
The beauty MYTH? You're in denial, my dear.
What a sad story. Maybe she can end up owning ABC and doing an extreme makeover on it.
What a horrible family. This poor woman probably wanted the surgeries so "they" would stop berrating her. The suicidal sister had to be loopey to begin with, the mother in law just seems nasty.
I for one am glad that attractive people are not the only ones that can be married. I would be a single woman then.
I guess. 'Course, I would have figured that if someone wanted to post on a debate forum, they'd actually have the nads to DEBATE.
'Bout time Shakespeare rose from his crypt to join us! Welcome to FR.
The only people dumber than the ones watching these shows are the cast.
And this is what "reality" shows are: gladiator fights, so much adored by the public. The analogy is valid because it is one form of pain or another is sold as "reality." True reality includes a miraculous liver transplant performed as we speak at the University of Pittsburgh, a communication with a satellite a gazillion miles away, heroism of our soldiers and good deeds performed by them in Iraq and New Orleans, and much, much more that makes this great country great. This is not in any way "reality" so much desired by the public: it wants pain and suffering.
At the bottom of it, all those that watch that "reality" garbage are the culprits, and not just ABC.
Why on earth would you say they are a horrible family. You're put in a situation where you're forced to say things...after all...they're giving your sister a free makeover. It's kinda the deal...you say bad stuff...your sister gets a free makeover. They carried out their end of the deal...ABC did not. I don't know if they'll be legally liable, but I think they should be.
These reality shows help people. It is alot easier to go through life when you're attractive. That's just the way it is. You can yell and scream all you want, but the truth is the truth.
These reality shows help people. It is alot easier to go through life when you're attractive. That's just the way it is. You can yell and scream all you want, but the truth is the truth.
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