Trevicia Williams was a Texas child bride at the age of 14 in 1983 and through her testimony, among others, state lawmakers have officially made it illegal to marry under the age of 18.On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill banning child marriage. Before this new law, 16- and 17-year-olds could marry in Texas with parental consent and any child of any age could get married with judicial approval.Treivica Williams was among the thousands who were married as children.In October 1983, the Houston native was married at the age of 14 to a 26-year-old ex-convict and a current registered sex offender, whom she only met a few months before their wedding. "You're only a child once in your life - only 14 years old, 15, 16 - once. To rob a child of those years - you know - from developing themselves and their character," Williams told Chron.com. "They're missing all of those important experiences.""There is no age floor as long as a judge signs off on it," Smoot told Chron.com in April before the bill was passed.Williams' story was among the striking testimonies given in the House and Senate. Through written testimony, Williams described how her mother picked her up from Aldine Senior High School on October 19, 1983, to take her to the courthouse to wed a man 12 years her senior.The couple was married from 1983 to 1987 and Williams describes the marriage as "tumultuous" and "violent." Nearly two years after her wedding day, Williams gave birth to her daughter, Agnes, two months before her 16th birthday in 1985. In August of 1987, at the age of 17, Williams divorced her husband."A lot of people ask me why and I don't have a concrete answer as to why my mother married me to him," Williams said. Currently, Williams and her mother do not speak to each other. "I can say I forgive her, but even with forgiveness, it doesn't mean to subject yourself to continuous hurt." Despite her rough teenage years, Williams has turned toward her faith and education to propel her future. Williams earned a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, a Master's degree in Behavioral Sciences and Psychology and a doctorate in Psychology."Most people become victims, but I was never satisfied being where I was because I knew where I was supposed to be," Williams told Chron.com. "I always reached for something higher."Along with her work pushing the senate and house bills through this legislation session, Williams founded Real Beauty Inside Out, which helps mothers and their daughters grow healthy relationships with each other. A part of her goal is to build the relationship level of families in order to prevent child marriages."It shouldn't hurt to be a child and child marriages, hurt children," Williams told Chron.com. "They aren't aware of it at the time, but they will be."