Serena Williams says the use of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound is not shortcut

Serena Williams reveals her use of GLP-1, Zepbound and calls out the stigma surrounding the use of the popular weight loss drug.

Serena Williams is a 23-time Grand Slam champion, an entrepreneur, and a devoted mother—hardly someone anyone would call lazy. Yet the tennis legend knows firsthand how harshly people judge the use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Now, she’s using her platform to challenge that stigma.

Today, Williams revealed that she’s on the GLP-1 drug Zepbound, a medication typically prescribed to treat diabetes, and is now also used for weight loss and management. 

“I feel like a lot of people have this stigma on GLP-1s and say things like, ‘Oh, lazy people do it,’ or ‘If you’re working hard enough, you don’t need that,’” she told Vogue. “I know for a fact from my experience that it’s simply not true.” 

With the help of the GLP-1s, Williams was able to lose over 31 pounds. However, before the assistance of the drug, she recalls how difficult it was to lose weight, often experiencing plateaus after giving birth to her daughters, Olympia and Adira River. 

“There’s a scene in my HBO documentary where you see my coach telling me, ‘You have to lose weight,’” she explained. “But it was so hard after I had [my first daughter] Olympia. I was literally on the court every day, doing nothing else. I had been the ultimate super-athlete, always in competition and being super-healthy my entire life, but I just could never get back to where I needed to be, no matter what I did.”

In a separate interview with People magazine, the tennis star shared: “It was crazy because I’d 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. I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best. So it was very frustrating to do all the same things and never be able to change that number on the scale or the way my body looked.”

And while social media has been marveling over her recent physical transformation, Williams says her candor about how she lost the weight is fueled by her role as a mother raising two girls. 

“I’m the mom of two girls, and I wanted to be very honest about what I’m doing so they can always be the same with me and we can have an open relationship,” she noted. 

Accessing the drug through Ro, a telehealth platform, Williams says the GLP-1 simply enhanced the work she was already doing: eating healthy and working out regularly.

“I was putting in the work. I actually think it’s a problem a lot of other women can relate to, that you are in the gym and eating healthy, but just can’t get to the level you want or need to. I feel lighter mentally, I feel sexier, I feel more confident,” she admits.  

Though she’s experienced a boost in confidence, Williams emphasized that her confidence and self-love was present with and without the extra 31 pounds. 

“Women often experience judgment about their bodies at any size, and I’m no stranger to that. So I feel like you should love yourself at any size and any look,” she said, noting that weight loss should never really change your self-image. “I always felt comfortable at any size, whether I was a lot heavier or not. I do feel like my body didn’t like me at that weight. I had pain in my joints and pain in different areas just because of the extra weight that I’m not used to carrying since I had children. But the size I was before, there was nothing wrong with it. It’s just not what I wanted to have. I just knew that I wanted to be where I personally felt comfortable.”

Ultimately as the new spokesperson for Ro and public advocate for the positive impact of GLP-1s, Williams hopes her honesty and journey will remove the shame around the use of these types of drugs for weight maintenance. 

“Sometimes you need help. Your story is your story, and it’s okay to make that choice to do it if you want to. I did, and I’m really happy with it,” she concludes.