Serena Williams is speaking out on the key to her weight-loss success.
The 43-year-old tennis champion revealed exclusively to PEOPLE that she has started using a GLP-1 medicine to help her lose weight and has already lost over 31 pounds.
“I feel great,” she tells People. “I feel quite healthy. I feel light, both physically and psychologically.”
Williams claims her weight issues began after she gave birth to her first daughter, Alexis Olympia, in 2017, and her body began to change postpartum.
“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 tells me. “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 never took shortcuts in my profession and always worked very hard. I understand what it takes to be the best,” the 23-time Grand Slam winner adds. “Doing the same things and not changing the scale or my body was very frustrating.”
Williams faced similar challenges once her second daughter, Adira River, was born in August 2023. She lost a significant amount of weight in two weeks but then plateaued. “I never lost another pound,” she says.
“I just thought, gosh, I don’t know if I would ever be able to get back to where I needed to get to,” the tennis pro remembers.
As a former professional athlete, Williams was well-versed in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so she wanted to try something new. She chose to contact Ro, a direct-to-patient healthcare firm, for more assistance with a GLP-1 therapy. GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, which function in the brain to regulate satiety. Popular brands include Ozempic and Mounjaro.
Williams acknowledged that there is a lot of debate around the usage of GLP-1 drugs and said that she was concerned about opting to take one herself.
“I performed extensive study on it. I was like, “Is this a shortcut? “What are the benefits? What aren’t the benefits?” “I really wanted to get into it before I did it,” she admits.
After determining it was the best option for her, she spoke with a doctor through Ro and began the weekly injections approximately six months after Adira was born, when she ceased nursing in early 2024.
“They were super supportive, and it was easy to get the medication,” adds Williams, who is now Ro’s celebrity patient ambassador. “I lost over 31 pounds using my GLP-1, and I was really excited about that weight loss.”
The Olympic gold medalist claims that since losing weight, she has felt better than ever.
“I just can do more. I am more active. My joints do not hurt as badly. I just feel like something as basic as getting down is much simpler for me.” And I do it much faster,” she says. “I feel like I have a lot of energy, which is amazing. I simply feel really pleased about it.”
Williams, who has been open and honest throughout her athletic career, tells PEOPLE that she felt it was necessary to discuss her story publicly. She often posts her training videos on social media and knows how to keep in shape, but she believes it’s good to admit when you need help and that there is no shortcut.
“GLP-1 helped me enhance everything that I was already doing—eating healthy and working out, whether it was as a professional athlete at the top level of tennis or just going to the gym every day,” she recalls. “So I believe that everyone should hear my tale. And I think a lot of folks can connect.”
Despite her recent weight reduction, Williams says the only thing that hasn’t changed is her confidence and love for herself.
“Weight loss should never really change your self-image,” she informs me. “Women of all sizes, including myself, frequently face prejudice regarding their bodies. So I believe you should appreciate yourself at whatever size and appearance.”
“I’ve never felt that pressure to maintain a certain appearance,” she says with regret. “I was always comfortable at whatever size, whether I was much heavier or not. I felt like my body didn’t like me at that weight. I felt discomfort in my joints and other areas as a result of the excess weight that I hadn’t carried since having children.”
“But my previous size was fine. It’s just not what I wanted,” she adds. “I just knew that I wanted to be where I personally felt comfortable.”
That’s why Williams has made it a point to discuss body image and body acceptance with her young kids, whom she shares with husband Alexis Ohanian.
“With me going through what I’ve gone through growing up in public and just having millions of people commenting on my body, it’s really important to teach them to be confident at any size, just like I try to be,” she told PEOPLE in 2017. “I was looking back at images, whether I was smaller or heavier, and I felt so secure. And I looked terrific, too. So I believe that loving yourself is quite vital. You will never get that moment back. You would rather not critique yourself since you’re constantly doing your best.”
Now that her GLP-1 prescription has proven effective, Williams says she will continue to take the weekly injections as needed. She’s also preparing for a half-marathon and plans to continue snapping pictures at the gym, which she considers her “favorite place to be.”