Tennis legend Serena Williams has shared the secret behind her dramatic body transformation – just one month after sparking fears among her fans.
The 43-year-old has opened up on her drastic weight loss journey, revealing that she has shed 31 pounds over the course of the past year.
But the 23-time Grand Slam winner has had a helping hand, admitting that she has been using weight loss drug Zepbound, a GLP-1 medication, according to Vogue.
GLP-1 is a natural hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite that is found in popular weight loss medication brands such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro as well as Zepbound.
Williams’ confession comes just weeks after her post-workout gym selfies, which showed off her ripped physique, sparked speculation that she had been using another popular drug, Ozempic.
Williams also opened up the drug to People and the TODAY show, insisting that it had left her feeling light ‘physically and light mentally.’
The tennis icon, who stepped away from the sport after the 2022 US Open, said that she began to struggle with her weight after becoming a mother for the first time with the birth of her eldest daughter, Alexis Olympia, in 2017.
She dealt with similar postpartum struggles over the changes to her body following the birth of her second daughter Adira River in August 2023.
Williams explained that she would go through quick bursts of weight loss only for her weight to then remain stagnant regardless of the healthy lifestyle she was accustomed to maintaining as a professional athlete.
That’s when she approached health care company Ro, for which she is a paid spokesperson and her husband is an investor in, for guidance on GLP-1 medication.
‘I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,’ she told People. ‘It was crazy because I’d never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy and could never get down to where I needed to be at.’
‘I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best,’ she added. ‘So it was very frustrating to do all the same things and never be able to change that number on the scale or the way my body looked.’
She claimed that the drug helped enhanced the healthy and fit practices she was already implementing into her routine.
Williams said that it has left her feeling more active, her joints in less pain and feeling ‘pretty good.’
However, Williams, who is married to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, acknowledged the stigma surrounding weight loss drugs, insisting that shedding some pounds should ‘never really change your self image.’
‘I’ve never felt that pressure to maintain a certain appearance,’ she admits. ‘I always felt comfortable at any size, whether I was a lot heavier or not. I do feel like my body didn’t like me at that weight. I had pain in my joints and pain in different areas just because of the extra weight that I’m not used to carrying since I had children.’
Williams’ confession comes just one month after she sparked Ozempic rumors by displaying her toned abs in a mirror selfie on Instagram.
‘Ozempic. Doesn’t even look like Serena anymore,’ one fan outright wrote in the comments, while others questioned if she was achieving her physique through exercise alone.
Days later, she left more fans concerned with her lean appearance in a sultry set of bikini snaps taken during a luxe yacht getaway.
She flaunted her toned figure and sculpted curves like a seasoned swimsuit model in a bikini and sheer sarong on the luxury vessel with a postcard-worthy ocean behind her.
While many praised her post-retirement glowup, others were quick to sound off — accusing the superstar of changing her figure too drastically.
‘She’s too thin… why?’ one critic asked, sparking a heated back-and-forth in the comments.
As the debate raged on, some fans defended the star’s new look while others said they barely recognized her.
One fan chimed in, ‘She’s definitely not thick anymore.’
Someone else added, ‘They don’t know that she was even thinner from 1998-2007.’
Of course, many rushed to staunchly defend the superstar.
‘I dunno what ppl talking about she still thick and healthy let her live,’ wrote one.
A different commenter posted, ‘She’s not too thin, her body looks like how it looked around 2013-2014.’
A fierce defender fired back, writing, ‘They just want to trash Serena all the time. She too thick, she too muscular, she too slim, her husband white, she bleaching her skin.
‘When they see she still dark they realize it was just makeup and lighting why she looked light, they ain’t have sh** to say. One thing though, Serena is living her life.’
One more agreed, sharing, ‘Serena could care less about her haters. If she didn’t look so good, she wouldn’t have any haters. Serena and her mom and sister look fabulous!’
Williams has always been a prominent figure in the public eye both on and off the court.
Over her illustrious career, Serena has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles — the most by any female player in the Open Era — and spent 319 weeks as world No. 1.
She last picked up a racket competitively at the US Open – which begins this week – back in 2022 when she fell short to Ajla Tomljanovic in a grueling three-hour, three-set thriller.
Before the 2022 tournament began, Williams announced in a special Vogue feature that she intended to step away from the sport – all but confirming her retirement.
Away from tennis, Williams has cemented herself as a business woman, philanthropist, high fashion darling and mother.
