Porter magazine began the month of December by introducing its latest cover star, Serena Williams. In a close-up snap of the four-time Olympic Gold Medalist—with 73 Singles Titles to her name—the publication shared a black and white front page image to Instagram, revealing the athlete’s latest cover girl moment.
Coupled with the front-page frame, Williams participated in a striking photo shoot, where she donned numerous dynamic ensembles, ranging from neutral gowns to cut-out swimwear. Additionally, she spoke with the magazine for a cover story, where she revealed how her renowned tennis career impacted her self-image during her adolescent years.
“When I was playing in the beginning—the first 15 years—my body was different. I had big boobs; I had a big butt,” she told the publication, elaborating that her competitors were “super flat, super thin and beautiful, but in a different way.”
Through this comparison, Williams revealed that she viewed herself in a way that vastly differs from her perspective now. Yet, working through her original train of thought took time. “It does affect you mentally. Absolutely,” she admitted. “You think you’re large for your whole life and you look [back] and you’re like, I was fit. Yeah, I had big muscles. I didn’t look like these other girls but not everyone looks the same.”
Read Williams’s full cover story here.
Williams retired from the game in 2022. Since then, she has extended her reign into the beauty industry with the launch of WYN Beauty, expanded upon her fund, Serena Ventures, and founded her own production company Nine Two Six—all while mothering her two daughters, Alexis Olympia and Adira River, whom she shares with her husband, Alexis Ohanian.
These days, she’s still on the court, but in a new way. “This is me sharing my passion for tennis with my youngest daughter,” she captioned a late November Instagram post shared with her 18.1 million Instagram followers alongside four frames with her youngest daughter. In the images, the duo each held onto a racket and passed a ball.
And while raising her daughters, the athlete is showing her girls that their strength is admirable, not something to shy away from. In a 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar UK, Williams touched upon her growth with the magazine, stating “I can show Olympia that I struggled, but now I’m happy with who I am and what I am and what I look like.”
Williams continued, “Olympia was born and she had my arms, and instead of being sad and fearful about what people would say about her, I was just so happy.”
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