If you didn’t know by now, Serena Williams truly has a way with words.
Back in April, the tennis great wrote a beautiful letter to her then unborn daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. on the day she found out she reclaimed her No. 1 WTA ranking. Now, as a new mother, Williams penned a letter to her own mother, Oracene Price, that’s just as touching. In it, Williams admires her mother for her strength and thanks her for “being the role model (she) needed to endure all the hardships that (she) now regard(s) as a challenges”, including maintaining a positive body image.
Williams posted half of the letter along with a new photo of her baby girl beside a photo of herself on the tennis court on her Instagram page.
She shared the full letter on Reddit (a platform her fiancé Alexis Ohanian co-founded). Read Williams’ full letter below:
“Dear Mom,
You are one of the strongest women I know. 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.
I’ve been called man because I appeared outwardly strong. It has been said that that I use drugs (No, I have always had far too much integrity to behave dishonestly in order to gain an advantage). It has been said I don’t belong in Women’s sports — that I belong in Men’s — because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it).
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.
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!
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 a 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.”