Serena Williams explains why she took weight-loss drug, lost 31 pounds

Serena Williams revealed she has turned to GLP-1s — which are weight-loss drugs– to help her with weight loss after having two children.

Ro’s website states the 43-year-old Williams — who is a paid spokesperson for the company — has lost 31 pounds in eight months.

“I literally tried everything. Running, walking, biking, stairclimber, you name it, I did it,” Williams said on “Today” on Thursday. “Even now trying to play a professional sport, it was something that I feel like even I felt like, ‘OK, I don’t want to do this because it is a shortcut or its is like a quick way out.’

“But it actually isn’t and there’s something that I feel personally that my body was missing in particular after having two kids, I wasn’t able to be at a weight that was healthy for me.”

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Williams said she wanted to tell folks of her weight-loss journey to help push back against the stigma that using a GLP-1 is lazy or provides a shortcut.

GLP-1s “work by mimicking a hormone your body naturally produces to regulate blood sugar levels, slow digestion, and help you feel fuller longer,” per the company’s website.

The controversial weight-loss drug Ozempic is a GLP-1.

Williams said she struggled to stay at a “healthy” weight after giving birth to daughter Olympia in 2017 and daughter Adira in 2023.

She mentioned the “Being Serena” documentary from 2018 in which her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, told her she needs to lose weight.

“So, for me, eventually, when GLP-1s came out, it was like, ‘No way, no how, it’s not for me. Don’t sign me up.’ I looked at it like a sport,” Williams said on “Today.”

“As an opponent, like I can 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 and I tried it and it actually worked.”

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While there is some pushback for those who use weight-loss drugs, Williams is not concerned.

“A lot of people are on it an don’t talk about it,” Williams said. “So I’m like, ‘Why are we questioning?’ We should just talk about it and be totally open, I’ve been kind of open most of my life. I just feel like there’s no need to just not deny it, it is what it is and I love how I’m feeling now.”

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This conversation came three days before the start of the U.S. Open, an event she won six times, including in 2014.

Williams said she misses the sports following her August 2022 retirement.

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“I think there’s a part of me that will always miss tennis because when you do something for your entire life from the day you remember you always had a goal and then one day you wake up and that’s not your goal anymore and that’s a huge change,” Williams said. “But, at the same time, I have so many wonderful memories. I have had so many great times. I can always take solace in that.”