Serena Williams Tells Oprah Why She Decided to Try GLP-1s

This is what I know for sure, that some people, no matter what you do, you can't lose the excess weight. We've watched Serena Williams win championships after championships. You all know she is the GOAT, the greatest of all times. She is an elite, world-class athlete, working out every single day, eating healthy food. Even she could not win the battle until now. Come on out here, Serena Williams. 23-time Grand Slam champion, the GOAT, Serena Williams says her struggle with weight began after giving birth to her two daughters. In August 2025, Serena announced that she lost 31 pounds on a GLP-1 medication and is now partnering with the telehealth company Rowe to share her story. Well, this is the thing. When you came out for Rowe, I went, holy Lord Jesus, and all your disciples. I felt that that was a seminal moment. And I was, like, so proud of you because I knew that you were going to get a whole lot of, oh, how dare you, and what do you mean, and da-da-da-da-da-da. And what was that like for you, the day that you came out for Rowe? I just felt good. You know, first of all, you know me. I don't listen to the noise. I'm like, get in line. There's a very long line. Go all the way to the back. And you're going to be a long time before I hear that complaint. But it made so much sense because, as you were saying, I'm an elite athlete. And I loved hearing what you were talking about because all that stuff makes so much sense. And I think everyone's personal body is different. And, like, the food noise, like, all the benefits that the GLP-1s can have, I just feel like, for me, I just felt totally different. And I'm literally, like, my last match at the Open, I literally was working eight hours a day in the gym, training, and I never could lose an ounce. In fact, I feel like I may have even gained weight. And it was incredible how my body looked, even though I was putting in hours. And I'm talking, we're in the summer in Florida, putting in hours and hours and hours of training. And I was eating life. Well, that's why I said, Lord Jesus, you know, that if Serena Williams, who's working out eight hours a day, literally cannot lose weight, then something's up. It's the biology. I think it's the biology. And I think also when you have kids, maybe that biology changes, you would have to tell me. But I feel like a little of that change, and also as you age, a little of it changes. And then you just learn so much about the GLP-1s and how much they're affecting your body with the different proteins that it's doing. And it's just- So it did change for you after having your first child? Yeah, absolutely. It did change for me. Yeah, I couldn't lose weight the way I used to. And it was actually virtually impossible. With eight hours, I mean, I can't even imagine. And your workouts, we've seen your workouts. Yes, my workouts are insane. A professional athlete, I was actually playing a professional sport. So I felt it's so important- Drop the mic, y'all, that's it. I felt it's so important to tell my story because I felt like a lot of people could relate to that. And I loved when you shared your story because for the very reason, you are the most amazing athlete. Of all time! Couldn't beat that weight. Yes, exactly. Couldn't beat the weight. The one opponent I could not defeat. Is the weight. Yes. So it was so exciting to work with Ro. And then they really wanted, with them, they really wanted to tell a story. They didn't just want to just single out me. They really wanted to tell a story about so many people were dealing with what I was dealing with. I read that you were initially skeptical of the GLP-1s. Absolutely! Yes. Because it's like the skinny shot and like, it's a shortcut. And so for years, I didn't, well, not for years, but for a long time, I didn't do it and I didn't want to do it. And I thought like, I'm not going to take the shortcut. You know, I'm going to work harder. But then eventually I was like, I've tried everything. I've tried every diet. I've tried every workout. I've tried walking for hours. I would go to Europe and Paris and I would just walk for hours. And the 20,000 steps a day, like every single thing, you know, and nothing was working. So this was killing me backstage. I would lose the weight, but my body liked to be at a certain weight. It's not opening for me. I was like, I didn't know that. The enough point. Yes. It wants to be there. And it's so weird because it's like, whenever I lose weight, it's like all of a sudden, I'll get even hungrier. Yes, exactly. And I'm like, and when I reach a certain weight, it wants to go back to the other weight. And I'm like, no. That's your biology. You get hungrier and guess what? When you're playing those amazing tennis matches, your body's burning less. It's more efficient. Interesting. So it's making you eat more and burn less. Cause it wants to keep you at that enough point. Listen, and I had enough of that enough point. That's right. So what made you change your mind about trying the medications? Well, honestly, I've heard a lot about this medication, about the GLP-1s, not only for weight loss. So that's the original reason I got on it because I was like, listen, first of all, I do want to lose weight, but there's also other benefits. I don't know if you can share those benefits, but anyway, I thought there was, I saw, I read, there was lots of other benefits in the GLP-1s. I'm so excited to read your book because there are so many more benefits from GLP-1s. But I was like, let me at least try those benefits and maybe I can lose weight with it. But I would like to say again, everyone's body is different. So I don't know how you guys all feel. I didn't lose, you lost weight. The food noise stopped for you, you said instantly? Yeah, it stopped like the next day. A month or two for me. Really? Yeah. And I don't know if anyone else had that experience, but a couple of my friends are like, oh, I've been on it for a month and I've only lost like three pounds. I'm like, that's okay. I actually probably lost one pound. So I think everyone's personal body, talk like, I'm like, talk to me about that. Why everybody loses differently? I know somebody that just started, a female who lost on the lowest dose, lost 13 pounds in one month. That is highly unusual. I hear that there are super responders to this medication and there are low responders. There are some people who respond really, really strongly to it and other people don't. And that's because there's different types of obesities. There's not one type of obesity, there's different types of obesity. We just haven't figured out. I had the tough time. You have the tough time. Which is really wonderful. And likely what happened with you is you probably needed a higher dose. You gotta start at the low dose. We'll talk about side effects later, but we gotta start at the lowest dose and go up. If you don't start at the low dose, everybody, we will talk about side effects later, but if you don't start at the low dose, that's why a lot of people were having major side effects in the beginning, growing up, all of the gastrointestinal issues come when you take too high of a dose and you don't gradually move into higher doses. So it's really good because it sounds like you started at the appropriate low dose, the starting dose. You go by the book, gotta go by the book, gotta go by the book. And then you go up and you probably just needed to get to that higher dose. It just takes time, but that's a good thing. The weight did not come on overnight. We don't want it to come off overnight. We wanna do it slowly. We wanna do it well. We wanna maintain all that wonderful muscle mass, right? We don't wanna lose it all at once. So this is very good. This is very good, yeah. So you've been now taking the medications for nearly a year. What's changed for you? So my life, I feel happier. I mean, I feel like I have more energy for my kids. I have a, I just feel like I can do more. Don't laugh, but I love to dance. I can drop it. I got knees like Megan now. Would you like to see? Yes, I would. Yes. So pretty. No, but seriously, it affects my joints are so much lighter and so much better. And I can, I'm like, oh my goodness, I just wish I had done this while I was still playing. Like it would have made such a big difference for me in my career. Well, you could come back. But yeah, so it's just, as I skip over that, okay. It's just like, it's affected me. Like I feel physically so much better. I feel more alert. And it's just to be able to do things that I could never do. Like even when I was playing, I could never do that at my highest because I realized it was extra weight that my joints were carrying. And I can go to the clubs now. We saw you, we saw you. Listen, during the Superbowl, doing the thing, we did. True, true. I hear you really want people to understand. And I think this is so important that the medications are not a shortcut. I mean, first of all, I think that's why I was so proud of you because for you, Serena Williams, the greatest of all times, to say you were having problems and now you understand that it was because of your biology and your enough point for you to not to be able to conquer the weight means it's truly biological. Yeah, and it's so relatable because so many people, as we see, are dealing with this. Obesity is a real thing. And the more I read about it, the more how it's just gonna help so many things. Like you were talking about heart disease, which is the number one killer. Killer of Americans. Of Americans, and it's just. 13 types of cancer, diabetes, all these different things. Well, but yeah, I love the way, I love the Roe ad where you said, I don't take shortcuts. Yes, I don't. You don't. And so I thought that was another thing. And I loved how Roe wanted to put this together because I've never taken a shortcut in my life. In fact, I would go the longer way to make sure I was the best, to make sure I did the extra work, to make sure I did the most. And so for me, and that's why it took me a little bit to want to start on the GLP-1 because I thought, well, is this a shortcut? And it really wasn't. It's just, if anything, it's just a shortcut to better health. Yeah. And that's just the way to look at it. And it's a way to get healthy. If you had diabetes, we wouldn't say, well, I'm sorry, you can't have any insulin. You gotta do all these things. You wouldn't say, let me try to do without the insulin as long as I can. Exactly. Let me concentrate really, really hard and make my blood sugars normal. We would never say that to a patient. Why do we say, okay, for the rest of your life, control every morsel of food that you're eating, control every movement that you're doing for the rest of your life. Why would we ever do that? Let's treat the biology. Let's treat the biology just like we treat it for any other disease. So this is absolutely not a shortcut. This is a way to treat your disease. But I take that we weren't looking at it as a disease. You're absolutely right. I think we were looking at it in a different way. But if you do change how you look at it and change the conversations, this is why this conversation is so important. And I'm so glad we talked about this because I'm like, we have to- We have to do something. We were talking about it. You know, and so it's about having these types of conversations and educating people that this is a disease, now treat it. Yes, and you're a huge part of that. Yeah. And obviously so is Oprah. Yes.