Serena Williams is opening up about the importance of loving yourself.
The 38-year-old professional tennis player recently sat down for a candid interview with her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. During the video, Williams discusses her personal experience as a Black woman in America and speaks of her support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Personally, there’s no better time to be the color that I am,” she says. “There’s no better time to be Black. I’m proud. I’ve always been proud to be who I am.”
Williams goes on to say that her race is part of who she is, adding, “I just feel like I wouldn’t be who I am, I wouldn’t be as strong as I am, I wouldn’t be able to be as amazing as I have been so far in my career—I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t Black.”
The tennis player gives credit to her parents for instilling a positive mindset. “I get that from my parents,” she continues. “They just really taught me the power of loving yourself and it is really now more than ever a great time to love yourself and a great time to support yourself.”
Williams also discusses her early career days, which helped shape who she is today. “I entered a sport that was all white. It definitely wasn’t easy looking back,” she explains. “I was also very young, and I just adapted. I wasn’t there to be besties with anybody, I was just there to play tennis.”
Her daughter, Alexis Olympia, has quite the role model mama.