A mother’s love. Serena Williams has been a mom for less than a month, but it has already made her appreciate her own mother, Oracene Price, even more. The tennis star shared a letter written to her mom on Reddit on Tuesday, September 19, thanking her for supporting her career in the public eye, especially when dealing with the negative comments Williams often encountered about her physical appearance.
As Us Weekly previously reported, Williams welcomed her first child, a girl named Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. on Friday, September 1, and her maternal instincts have kicked in full force and inspired her to write the loving note.
“Dear Mom, You are one of the strongest women I know,” she wrote. “I was looking at my daughter (OMG, yes, I have a daughter ?) and she has my arms and legs! My exact same strong, muscular, powerful, sensational arms and body. I don’t know how I would react if she has to go through what I’ve gone through since I was a 15 year old and even to this day.”
“But mom, I’m not sure how you did not go off on every single reporter, person, announcer and quite frankly, hater, who was too ignorant to understand the power of a black woman,” Williams shared. “I am proud we were able to show them what some women look like. We don’t all look the same. We are curvy, strong, muscular, tall, small, just to name a few, and all the same: we are women and proud!”
Williams hopes to be more like her in the future, writing, “You are so classy, I only wish I could take your lead. I am trying, though, and God is not done with me yet. I have a LONG way to go, but thank you. Thank you for being the role model I needed to endure all the hardships that I now regard as challenges — ones that I enjoy. I hope to teach my baby Alexis Olympia the same and have the same fortitude you have had.
“Promise me, Mom, that you will continue to help. I’m not sure if I am as meek and strong as you are yet. I hope to get there one day. I love you dearly. Your youngest of five, Serena,” she concluded.
Williams’ and her fiancé, Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, welcomed their first child at a hospital in Palm Beach, Florida, and she has since been open about sharing photos of the baby on social media as well as showing off her post-baby weight loss on Snapchat.
The Grand Slam champ first revealed her pregnancy on Snapchat on April 19, after she accidentally pressed “the wrong button” and posted a photo of her baby bump at 20 weeks. Williams then posed for a nude photoshoot for the August cover of Vanity Fair, where she stripped down to just a flesh-colored thong and belly chain, totally embracing her athletic body and her new pregnancy curves.
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