NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Tennis great Serena Williams has opened up about her incredible weight-loss journey, revealing that she lost 31 pounds with the help of a GLP-1 medication.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion revealed in interviews with People magazine and “Today” that she turned to a GLP-1 medication after struggling with her health following the birth of her second daughter.
In this Sept. 7, 2019, file photo, Serena Williams returns a shot to Bianca Andreescu, of Canada, during the women’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)
“In particular after having my second kid, I was never able to be at a healthy weight that I could be at, whether it was my joints or blood sugar levels. It was just always something I suffered with and a lot of women actually go through this,” Williams said during an appearance on “Today” Thursday.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Williams, 43, said that despite being a trained athlete, she struggled to lose weight regardless of how active she was. She said it began to take a toll on her joints.
“No matter what I did — running, walking, I would walk for hours because they say that’s good, I literally was playing a professional sport — and I could never go back to where I needed to be for my health. Then, after my second kid, it just even got harder. So then I was like, OK, I have to try something different.”
Williams said she decided to be open about her journey in order to destigmatize the use of GLP-1 medication for weight loss.
Serena Williams is seen on Aug. 21, 2025 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images)
SERENA WILLIAMS SAYS SUPER BOWL HALFTIME APPEARANCE WAS NOT MEANT TO SHADE EX, DRAKE: ‘I WOULD NEVER DO THAT’
“A misconception is that it’s a shortcut,” she told “Today.” “As an athlete and as someone that has done everything, I just couldn’t get my weight to where I needed to be at a healthy place — and believe me, I don’t take shortcuts.”
Williams told People magazine separately that despite her new look, her confidence level has never wavered. Her decision to make a change was based on something entirely different.
“I’ve never felt that pressure to maintain a certain appearance,” she said. “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.”
Serena Williams clenches her fist after defeating Qiang Wang, of China, during the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on Sept. 3, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“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.”
GLP-1s, also known as GLP-1 agonists, are a type of drug that mimics a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 that helps to regulate blood sugar levels.
Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.