Serena Williams Doesn’t Know How To Tell Her Daughters Who She Is — & Turns to an Unexpected A-Lister’s Mom for Help
Serena Williams is having the most unexpected of problems. The 23-time Grand Slam champion doesn’t know how to tell her daughters who she is. She doesn’t know how to tell them she’s the GOAT. And, honestly, bravo to the legendary tennis player for keeping her mouth shut this long. Personally, I’d never shut up if I had four Olympic gold medals.
But how to explain these achievements to her 7-year-old daughter Olympia and 1-year-old daughter Adira — who she shares with her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian — is apparently something Williams grapples with.
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She was just named Glamour‘s Woman of the Year (another honor to tell her daughters!) and told the publication she’s “tinkering” with her strategy for how to explain it all. And it turns out she’s turned to the most unexpected source for advice.
In her [very busy] “retirement,” Williams has been investing in many companies — including Wondermind, the “mental fitness ecosystem” that was cofounded by Selena Gomez and her mother, actress and producer Mandy Teefey.
Teefey told Glamour that Williams “made it very clear” that she “loved the dynamics” she and Gomez had. “She really respected that we were open with everything that we’ve gone through. I think she shares the same ethos that we do, which is if you’re given a platform and you have to deal with so much negative stuff, when you’re able to give back, that makes it worth it.”
But that platform can also get in the way of any “tinkering” and advice-seeking Williams is trying to do.
“The other day Olympia said, ‘My mom is the most famous tennis player in the world. She’s the best to ever play tennis.’ I was like, ‘Who told you that?’” Honestly, she probably overheard it at her school (Where Williams is a volunteer on the auction committee!). It certainly wasn’t something that was shared at home. And though Williams reportedly grimaced when telling the story, she eventually started to smile. “Okay, it made me feel really good,” she said with a laugh. “She was so proud.”
Though Williams might not be taking Olympia through her trophy room any time soon, she is teaching her some of the lessons she learned on the road to success. And though Olympia Ohanian might not have the tennis bug, it seems she’s becoming a little perfectionist in her own right. She was given a story at school about a little girl who wanted to draw but kept erasing her pictures, getting in the way of her progress because she was so focused on some unreachable ideal. It’s a story that resonates for both mother and daughter.
And so Williams already knows she’ll need to keep repeating a mantra to her firstborn that she herself has to remember: “Mistakes mean that you’re strong enough to try.”
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