brittany christina and jessica all blonde all beautiful and all super talented entertainers
destined for greatness however they weren't the only ones at the same time another blonde
by the name of willa ford was making her mark as well the careers of the three
aforementioned ladies skyrocketed willa's not so much but she still managed to blaze her own trail
then one day she realized that she just couldn't do it anymore
let's find out whatever happened to american pop singer-songwriter willa ford willa ford birth name
amanda lee wilford was born january 22nd 1981. raised in ruskin florida she honed her singing
and performing skills at a very young age she even scored a spot studying opera for several years
in a competitive program beginning when she was around 12. she also excelled in academics taking
all gifted classes and leaving high school with a 4.25 grade point average while she's had a lot
of people helping her along the way in her music career one of the most instrumental and surprising
was nba hall of famer and former los angeles lakers guard magic johnson he was the one to bring
her into mca records office after hearing her sing for him over the phone she landed her first record
deal with the label in 1999 at the age of 18 and began performing under the stage name amanda
that partnership didn't work out and she ultimately made her way over to lava atlantic
records a couple of years later around the same time she changed her stage name yet another young
blonde up-and-coming artist by the name of mandy moore was climbing the charts and willa thought
it was best to make the change to avoid any confusion while her career was getting ready
to kick into high gear she was also healing from a recent upheaval in her personal life
willa had just ended a long-term relationship with backstreet boy nick carter the timing
probably couldn't have been any better since she now needed a clear head to focus on her work
previously she had toured with the group and experienced firsthand the vicious in-person
attacks from their die-hard fans just for simply hooking up with a cute boy bander things however
didn't stop there numerous anti will afford websites also popped up on the internet
willow was here her debut album dropped july 17 2001. she wrote most of her own lyrics
and served as executive producer for most of the album her debut single that was
released a couple of months prior called i wanna be bad featuring rapper royce259
peaked at number 22 on the billboard hot 100 and number four on the dance chart
some fans may even remember it as the background track
to the amanda bynes runway scene from the romantic comedy film what a girl wands as
clearly displayed in the music video even in a sea of blonde willis stood out in a major
way compared to her counterparts with her overtly sexual dance moves and fashion choices
in a 2019 interview with the hollywood reporter she spoke about why she thinks the song has
received so much love over the years especially from the lgbtq plus community saying the song was
written out of defiance and a bit of anger i was tired of people telling me who to be
and so i think it was really relatable at the time because i was told you look like this you're not
allowed to be sexual later that year her follow-up single call did you understand that was released
but failed a chart at all willa stirred up some major controversy over the song when she
claimed that the lack of interest was due to the september 11 attacks on the date of the release
she even received the donkey of the day award from new york's 105.1 radio show the breakfast club
radio host charlemagne the god even referenced several other artists who put out material
on that fateful day and still managed to have successful results such as nickelback and jay-z
during this time willa branched out from music into advertising and television hosting work
one major break was her stint as a guest host on mtv's trl that led to a hosting
contract with viacom where she became the host of a couple of mtv reality shows
she didn't release another single for another couple of years however when she did it went
largely unnoticed the song called a toast to men was supposed to be included on her second album
titled sexy sex obsessive but it was ultimately shelled in 2003 due to record company turnovers
and takeovers willa then stepped away almost completely from music for many years
the reasons why vary one was the lack of hits another even bigger reason was the exhausting
workload and the toll it was taking on her mentally and physically in the same hollywood
reporter interview she spoke openly about confessing to her mother how she was feeling
her mother gave her some sage advice that she followed immediately i left new york
got on a plane and went home to florida i needed to take that minute to breathe
and then i watched a lot of people have breakdowns later on because they didn't take
that time it was part of my journey and it was the healthiest thing i could do at the time she
ended up focusing on a television and film acting career then in march 2006 playing right into her
i want to be bad image she was featured in a nude pictorial in playboy magazine later that same year
she competed on the third season of dancing with the stars with her partner maxim chimerkovsky
in august 2007 willa married her longtime boyfriend nhl center mike modano in athens texas
they would divorce five years later if her fans didn't already know it became obvious
in the years to come that she definitely has a type in april 2015 she married for the second
time to a second athlete nfl linebacker ryan niece and they now share a sign for the most
part things seem to be running smoothly in willa's acting career that is until
2014. she was originally cast in the independent film assassin's fury but was later dropped
producer fabio saldani reported to bzfilm.com that he was forced
to fire her after only five days of shooting because she was quote a nightmare to be around
today willa is a highly sought after interior designer in los angeles she started her firm w
ford interiors back in 2012 on the side of her acting career as an additional creative outlet
during her first marriage she worked with a designer on her home and fell in love with
the process over time more and more friends kept asking her to complete projects for them
there came a point where it just became too overwhelming to juggle both jobs
so she decided to stop acting all together and focus on her design firm full-time
in 2019 she appeared as scott disick's right-hand woman on e's new house flipping reality series
flip it like disick she works right alongside him completely transforming multi-million dollar homes
it's definitely been a journey for willa to come to terms with her music career not panning out
the way she hoped in a 2019 glamour.com interview she spoke about how initially devastated she was
but realized later that it was all for a greater purpose saying those moments make you strong
they make you better what i really know from the chair i'm sitting in today is that i can look back
at that and say thank god that is exactly how it was supposed to go because now it's all good
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