Serena Williams has spent her life proving that hard work, persistence, and discipline can take you anywhere. But in a candid new interview with People, the tennis legend admits that after becoming a mother, even those qualities weren’t always enough.
The 43-year-old revealed that she has been using a GLP-1 medication, the class of drugs that includes Ozempic and Mounjaro, to help manage her weight after years of frustration with postpartum changes. Since beginning the treatment earlier this year, Williams says she’s lost more than 31 pounds — and feels healthier than she has in years.
“I feel great,” she said. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally.”
Williams explained that her struggles began after the birth of her first daughter, Olympia, in 2017. Despite intense training and careful eating, she couldn’t get her weight down to a level that felt comfortable for her body. She experienced the same after her second daughter, Adira, was born in 2023. “I just thought, gosh, I don’t know if I would ever be able to get back to where I needed to get to,” she said.
Deciding to try something new, Williams turned to Ro, a direct-to-patient healthcare company, and began GLP-1 treatments once she stopped breastfeeding Adira. “I did a lot of research on it,” she said. “I really wanted to dive into it before I just did it.” Six months later, she had not only lost the weight but also noticed her energy return and pain in her joints subside. “I just can do more. I’m more active. I feel like I have a lot of energy and it’s great.”
For Williams, the treatment isn’t a shortcut but an enhancer to the diet and exercise regimen she’s long maintained. “GLP-1 helped me enhance everything that I was already doing — eating healthy and working out, whether it was as a professional athlete or just going to the gym every day,” she explained.
Even as she celebrates her progress, Williams is clear that her confidence and sense of self-worth have never hinged on a number on the scale. “Weight loss should never really change your self-image,” she said. “Women often experience judgment about their bodies at any size, and I’m no stranger to that. So I feel like you should love yourself at any size and any look.”
That’s a message she’s intent on passing down to her daughters. “It’s really important to teach them to be confident at any size, just like I try to be,” she said. “I was looking back at pictures, whether I was smaller or thicker, and at that moment I felt so confident. And I looked great, too. So I just think it’s so important to love who you are.”
Now, as she trains for a half marathon and continues her weekly injections, Williams says the gym remains her “favorite place to be.” The work, she insists, is ongoing — and she’s showing up for it, every day.
