Serena Williams Reveals Her Choice to Use GLP-1 for Weight Loss: “I Tried…”

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Serena Williams has officially opened up about her weight loss.

The tennis superstar spoke to TODAY on August 21 to reveal that she’s been taking the GLP-1 medication Ro, and has lost 31 pounds so far. Now, she hopes to de-stigmatize the medicine for others who might be struggling.

“A misconception is that it’s a shortcut,” she told TODAY. “As an athlete and as someone who has done everything, I just couldn’t get my weight to where I needed to be at a healthy place — and believe me, I don’t take shortcuts.”

Williams said when it comes to the idea that GLP-1s are a shortcut, she initially “believed it too,” but is now planning to stay on the medication long term. “I feel like, after having my kids, my body was missing something. I don’t know if it’s something that the GLP-1 has, but I just feel normal again.”

In addition to Ro, common GLP1-1 drug varieties include Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound. Per Healthline, they help to control blood sugar and appetite, are often prescribed for diabetes, and do have known side effects.

Serena Williams says she struggled to lose weight after her second child

Williams said she “tried everything” to get to her desired body weight before medication, “running, walking, biking, stair climber,” and even going vegan and vegetarian.

Serena Williams smiling and posing at Audemars Piguet’s special evening with Vogue.

“After I had my kids, after I got a tad bit older, my body was missing something, no matter what I did,” she said on the 3rd hour of TODAY. “I’m playing professional tennis, I’m literally training five hours a day, and I would always work my way to one point on the scale and it would never go below that.”

“I had a lot of knee issues…especially after I had my kid [and] was never able to get to my normal levels of weight,” she explained. “And that, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career.”

She initially rejected the idea of GLP-1s, but then she changed how she looks at her weight.

“I looked at it as a sport, as an opponent,” she said. “I can’t beat this opponent no matter what I do, I have to try something different. Tried something different, it didn’t work. So eventually I saw my friends using it, I saw a lot of people on it, I tried it, and it actually worked.”

“A lot of people are on it, and don’t talk about it. So I’m like, why are we questioning?” she said. “We should be totally open about it…I love how I’m feeling now.”

Serena Williams and husband Alexis Ohanian have two daughters

Williams married entrepreneur and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November 2017, two months after welcoming daughter Olympia. Williams “almost died” after Olympia was born, due to a pulmonary embolism. Their second daughter, Adira, was born in August 2023.

Ohanian is one of Williams’ loudest supporters, and recently gushed about his wife on TODAY.

“As amazing as she is as an athlete, greatest of all time, she’s an even greater mom to our daughters, Olympia and Adira,” Ohanian said of his wife. “On top of being an amazing woman and business woman and sports icon. And that’s something I think few people understand. She’s reached the top of the mountain top, the highest of heights, things that most of us would trade so much for. And yet, after being up there, the thing that gives her so much joy is the simple things, family.”

Serena Williams with her family at the 2024 Paris Olympics

He is also an investor and board member of Ro, the telehealth company Williams partnered with on her GLP-1 journey.

Williams has been outspoken about health issues faced by Black women in particular, including the dangers of childbirth. After Olympia’s birth, she wrote about how Black women in the U.S. are “over three times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes.”

Now, as she speaks out about her weight loss, she’s also hoping to alert people to the fact that Black people also have an increased risk of diabetes. “[It’s] definitely around in my family, and I really wanted to just look deeper.”