Vanessa Williams had to be coaxed into taking on a role on TV hit "Desperate Housewives" - because she was one of the drama's worst critics. The actress admits she was a big fan until Alfre Woodard became the first African-American to join the show.

Williams wasn't jealous and she doesn't dislike Woodard - but she hated her character's storyline. She tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, "She had her son in chains in the basement. It was like, 'Really? Do we have to go there with our first black character?'

"I honestly fell off the show after that. I think it was just so implausible and just an image that black folks don't want to see - their child chained and shackled in the basement."

Williams will join the Wisteria Lane crowd on the show when she plays the wife of a baseball star.