Vanessa Williams on being ‘more cun*y’ in Ugly Betty and making Miranda Priestly her own: ‘I’m me, so I’m not Meryl’

Vanessa Williams is winner of the Icon Award at the 2024 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar (Image: Matt Crocket)

Vanessa Williams greets us from the elegant kitchen of her temporary Plymouth home, unexpectedly free for the evening. We’re catching up via Zoom after previews for the The Devil Wears Prada musical — in which Williams stars as Miranda Priestly — are suspended due to right-wing protests shutting down most of the city centre. “I’ll be ordering Deliveroo,” she quips about her evening plans. As our conversation unfolds, Williams’ MacBook chimes with notifications. “I thought I put this on silent,” she remarks apologetically, leaving this interviewer half-hoping she’ll channel her Ugly Betty character and yell “Mark!” with Michael Urie scurrying in to activate Do Not Disturb.

Over the past four decades,

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