From "Extreme Makeover" that never was, a tragedy

LOS ANGELES — Deleese Williams, a young Texas woman so uncomfortable with her looks that she avoided family photos, saw ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover" as a chance to have the face she always wanted.

After medical and psychological exams, intense personal interviews and the promise of a Cindy Crawford smile, Williams was scheduled for plastic surgery in Los Angeles. But her reality-TV makeover was scrapped at the last minute, and she was put on a plane home.

"Back in Texas, Deleese tried to hide," her attorneys said in a lawsuit. "She and her family were devastated, humiliated, crushed, embarrassed and ashamed."

Perhaps no one more so than her sister, Kellie McGee. While trying to help Williams' bid for a makeover, she was goaded by producers into videotaping "hurtful and horrific statements" about her sister's appearance, the lawsuit alleged.

A successful makeover might have removed the sting, but McGee had become so guilt-ridden after the deal fell through that she killed herself four months later, the lawsuit said. She is survived by two children, whom Williams is rearing.

"Sometimes Deleese blames herself for Kellie's death," according to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and settled last fall for an undisclosed sum.

ABC expressed condolences to Williams' family but said producers repeatedly had informed Williams that her makeover could be canceled. An attorney for the TV network, parent company Walt Disney Co. and the producers declined to comment.