This post discusses weight loss and body image.
Serena Williams is reflecting on the unjust body criticism she has faced throughout her life.
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Back in 2018, Serena admitted that the harsh commentary surrounding her physique early in her tennis career led her to wish she were a size 4. “People would say I was born a guy, all because of my arms, or because I’m strong,” she told Harper’s Bazaar, before adding, “I’ll never be a size 4! Why would I want to do that, and be that?”
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Now, Serena has opened up further about struggling at the start of her career because of how different her body was compared to her peers’.
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“It was hard because when I was playing in the beginning – the first 15 years – my body was different,” she shared in a new interview with PORTER.
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“I had big boobs; I had a big butt. Every athlete was super flat, super thin and beautiful, but in a different way. And I didn’t understand as an athlete how to deal with that,” she continued.
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“It does affect you mentally. Absolutely,” she added. “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.”
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Serena’s comments come amid ongoing discourse around her use of weight loss medication.
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Following weeks of speculation around her appearance, Serena confirmed in August that she has been using medication to lose weight. “GLP-1 helped me enhance everything that I was already doing — eating healthy and working out,” she told People.
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“I feel great,” she added. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally.”
Serena’s comments about the weight loss drug sparked a mixed reaction online, with one popular post questioning, “If even a super athlete can’t have the ‘correct’ body – where’s the hope for the rest of us?”
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Meanwhile, actor and activist Jameela Jamil publicly condemned Serena’s GLP-1 use, stating that it makes her “uncomfortable.”
You can read Serena’s full PORTER interview here, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments.
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