A Los Angeles lawsuit claims producers of ABC's "Extreme Makeover" dumped a makeover candidate at the last minute and shattered her Texas family.
The 31-page lawsuit filed in Los Angeles claims "Extreme Makeover" promised a "Cinderella-like fix" for Deleese Williams' deformed jaw, crooked teeth, droopy eyes and small chest that would "transform her life and destiny," the New York Daily News reported Sunday.
Williams' pending makeover was announced on air Jan. 7, 2004. Producers then coaxed family members to say mean things about her looks on videotape, while she sat in earshot of it all, the suit alleges.
"Extreme Makeover" flew her from Texas to Los Angeles and as she sat in her hotel room reading pre-op instructions for the next morning, a producer showed up and told her she was being dropped because her recovery time would take too long, Williams' attorney, Wesley Cordova, told the Daily News.
Her sister, Kellie McGee, "fell to pieces" over the mean things she said about her sister and killed herself four months later, Cordova said.
Williams, 30, and her husband, Mike, are now raising McGee's two children, along with their own two children. The suit seeks unspecified damages.
ABC has declined to comment on the allegations, the Daily News said.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
