Vanessa L. Williams is on a breakneck schedule as she races back and forth between her children in New York and the shooting of her ABC series “Ugly Betty” which tapes in Los Angeles.
She’s happy that the network is accommodating her responsibilities as a single mother to a brood of four by allowing her to work only three days a week on the Hollywood version of the wildly popular Colombian show, in which she’s playing a manipulative magazine editor.
But she’s anything but thrilled that she’s been thrust into the position of being a bicoastal mom.
“I live in New York,” she says. “My kids are in school in New York. And I was under the impression the series would shoot in New York. I don’t go out for shows that shoot in Los Angeles. But that’s the way things have turned out. You just make the best of what you have. I love the show. We’re all getting along great and, well, I commute home each week.”
When she’s not at home, there’s a nanny Vanessa has known for 17 years caring for the children, plus, “My mother is five minutes away, and the father of my three eldest children (Williams’ ex-husband Ramon Hervey) is only a half mile away.” Vanessa’s most recent ex, basketball star Rick Fox, is the father of the baby of the clan, 5-year-old Sasha. Fox headquarters in Los Angeles.
Williams, who has several hit albums to her credit, does find time to squeeze in occasional singing engagements.
“I play Las Vegas in November,” she says, “and I’ve got dates with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and The Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra next month.”