{"id":100401,"date":"2025-08-21T22:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T22:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/100401\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T22:36:08","slug":"super-fit-serena-williams-makes-shock-weight-loss-admission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/100401\/","title":{"rendered":"Super-Fit Serena Williams Makes Shock Weight-Loss Admission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serena Williams<\/a> has admitted she is using weight-loss drugs <\/a>after struggling to shift her post-pregnancy weight.<\/p>\n

The 23-time Grand Slam tennis great said she has lost 31 pounds and wanted to speak out in an attempt to shake the stigma<\/a> around their use.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an athlete and as someone that has done everything, I just couldn\u2019t get my weight<\/a> to where I needed to be at a healthy place, and believe me, I don\u2019t take shortcuts. I do everything but shortcuts,\u201d Williams said in an interview on NBC\u2019s Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"OlympiaThe effects of weight-loss drugs on Williams can be seen here in this photo of her with eldest daughter, Olympia, in May. Tim Mosenfelder\/Tim Mosenfelder\/FilmMagic <\/p>\n

Williams explained that, after giving birth to daughters, Olympia in 2017 and Adira in 2023, no amount of training and strict eating was enough to reach a weight she felt was healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally was playing a professional sport, and I could never go back to where I needed to be for my health, for my healthy weight, no matter what I did,\u201d said the 43-year-old, who retired in 2022. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would always lose a lot of weight, and then I would stay. No matter what I did, I couldn\u2019t go lower than that one number.\u201d<\/p>\n

She told People<\/a> in a separate interview, \u201cIt was crazy because I\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams also cited other health concerns, including diabetes, which runs in her family. She had also hoped slimming down would ease the strain on her knees, which she reckons stopped her adding to her record haul of Grand Slams.<\/p>\n

Her incredible run ended in 2017 with a seventh Australian Open title, which she won while pregnant with her first daughter, and playing against sister Venus in the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of issues with my knees, especially after I had my kid,\u201d she told Today. \u201cThat, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams has now been signed up as the face of a campaign for Ro, a company that prescribes GLP-1 medications through telehealth. Her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is an investor and board member.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, she launched a campaign to normalize the use of weight loss drugs and combat the narrative that taking them is the \u201ceasy way out.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"cheats\/2017\/01\/28\/serena-williams-beats-sister-venus-to-win-australian-open\/170128-serena-williams-23rd-win-cheat_lsexmm\"Serena Williams said she might have won more than this, her 23rd Grand Slam win in the Australian Open in 2017, had she been taking weight-loss drugs. Jack Thomas\/Reuters <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great,\u201d she told People<\/a>, \u201cI just can do more. I\u2019m more active. My joints don\u2019t hurt as much. I just feel like something as simple as just getting down is a lot easier for me. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I do it a lot faster. I feel like I have a lot of energy, and it\u2019s great. I feel light physically and light mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SerenaIt seems like everyone is taking weight-loss jabs these days\u2014even sports superstars like Williams. Ro <\/p>\n

Williams joins a wave of high-profile figures, including Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and singer Meghan Trainor, who have disclosed taking the drugs. <\/p>\n

Use has surged across the U.S., with about one in eight adults reporting they\u2019ve taken a GLP-1 at some point, according to polling. <\/p>\n

GLP-1 brands, including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, mimic a gut hormone that reduces appetite. Some versions are used for diabetes and, in Wegovy\u2019s case, are also FDA-approved to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke in certain adults with obesity or overweight. <\/p>\n

Williams said she hasn\u2019t experienced side effects, which can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.<\/p>\n

As with many therapies, benefits taper once GLP-1 drugs are stopped, and some people regain weight, but Williams said the medication fits her life for the long haul. \u201cI just feel normal again,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serena Williams has admitted she is using weight-loss drugs after struggling to shift her post-pregnancy weight. The 23-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[97,6542,99,428,3458],"class_list":{"0":"post-100401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-serena-williams","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-weight-loss"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}