But Serena, tell us if you feel comfortable about.
Conception journey.
I mean, you.
Well, one thing I.
Well, that is definitely.
I’ve never had that subject.
Yeah.
That’s kind of intimate.
You know, it’s true, but we’re with moms.
And this is only gonna air to millions of people.
It’s just between us girls.
Well, we were in Rome.
And? Ha ha ha ha! Hey there, hi there moms! Hey, Serena girl, what’s happening? First of all, let me start by thanking Steve and Connie Balmer and the entire LA Clippers organization for hosting us today.
They are wonderful.
Let’s give them a round of applause.
And you guys have been great partners to us personally, and we are incredibly grateful to be working with you.
So thank you.
We’re here today to talk about my favorite subject, motherhood, with some of my favorite people, mothers.
Right? And what better guest to have, not just one of the greatest athletes in the world, but.
One of the greatest mothers in the world.
Because we’re backstage and I’m like, how the girls and this one, you know, you can’t even say their names without just just feeling it.
Right.
Yeah, they’re pretty special, pretty special.
So we’re gonna talk about motherhood, our motherhood journeys, and so much more.
But I wanna begin with just a fundamental question.
I don’t know about you, I’ve done a lot in life.
I have accomplished things, degrees, and all the things.
And I always knew that I wanted to have a career, I wanted have an impact.
But the one thing I always, always knew I wanted to be was a mother, for sure.
I mean, it is the most important thing.
And I knew that from a long, long time.
And that’s not always true.
I mean we all come to motherhood in different ways, for different reasons, and there is no right way to be a mother.
That’s for sure, that’s all I’ve learned.
But I’m wondering, Serena, Did you feel that way? Did you always want to be a mother? Yeah, actually I’ve always wanted to be a mom.
I didn’t know, you know, there’s a lot of things involved with becoming a mom, but I always knew that I wanted to a mom even when I was young, playing with my dolls.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, I was always the one that just wanted to have kids.
So it’s always been something that I’ve always knew throughout my life.
And I didn’t know when, you, I just didn’t when it was going to happen, but I always knew that there was one goal that I just definitely wanted to reach.
And that was becoming a mom.
Yeah.
And then you start trying to be a mom, which I did.
And what I was never told was that the biological clock was real.
And I try to tell a lot of young people that, a lot of young women, that that clock is real.
And Barack and I, we married in our late 20s, took our time hanging tough.
And then we started.
Working on conceiving.
I got pregnant once and miscarried, which was devastating.
And then we tried and tried and try and we had to do IVF for both girls.
Which, you know, it becomes, it’s more of a thing than I knew then.
I think more young women are talking about their conception journey that it’s not always guaranteed.
But Serena, tell us if you feel comfortable about your conception journey.
I mean, you.
Well, one thing.
I thought, well that is definitely, I’ve never had that subject.
Yeah.
That’s kind of intimate.
You know, it’s true, but we’re with moms.
And this is only gonna air to millions of people.
It’s just between us girls.
And? Ha, ha, ha ha ha, Ha, Ha ha ha One thing led to another, and then nine months later.
But you were pregnant while you were still, so were you? So were you trying? No, I wasn’t trying to have a kid at the time.
But you were not not trying, clearly.
Apparently.
But you know what’s so interesting about what you said about the biological clock? I tell all my friends of age, freeze your eggs.
Because I just feel like that is the best thing that you can do as a woman, as you decide to go on this journey.
I feel like I did that, and I- You froze the eggs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I froze my eggs.
And I felt like once I did it, because I was still playing professional tennis, and I felt I wasn’t ready to stop, and I wanted to keep going, and it just wasn’t time.
And then all of a sudden, all this pressure came off of my shoulders.
Like it was just all this weight just fell off my shoulders once I done that.
Then I told a lot, ever since then I told everyone to do it.
And someone- How old were you when you? I was in my 20s, I was like 27, 28, so it was a really good time to do it and also someone told me to do it so I always felt like it was really important for me to pay that forward because then nowadays with technology there’s just so much that you can do, like you said even with IVF which you know is also such a great journey as well and you know I just felt like I just that I actually had that option.
So yeah, so that’s what we were able to do as well.
I mean, there’s so much pressure on women just to, you know, I mean if you don’t get that part right, there is still a feeling that something is missing.
I don’t know about all of you, but I know that when I struggled to conceive, I took that on, like a personal failure.
I mean, I don’t think that we have that conversation enough about how many times that either you conceive and you have a miscarriage or whether you conceive, and it doesn’t work.
So I feel like the only times it work when you’re not trying to conceive, but that’s right.
It just, I think that’s just really important part of just being a woman and it just.
All these things that I’m all about, just breaking down these walls and talking about the uncomfortable and making them comfortable.
And talking about things that more people don’t.
So you could tell us more about Rome, but it’s okay.
Not bad, now that’s a different type of conversation.
I wasn’t sure we were here for that.
So it was, I don’t know, I just feel like a lot of people aren’t really, women aren’t really open, it’s kind of like menopause and perimenopause, like my mom’s generation, no one’s open about that conversation.
My mother said she didn’t remember.
I was like, you lying.
Exactly, or it didn’t bother you.
My mom said, oh, that was nothing.
Yeah, right.
It’s never nothing.
And I’m just like, but now I think this generation is all about it like the more the more you know about it And the more, you can you know just tell people about it.
Like I try to tell everyone if I tell all my friends listen I started a Prednisone why not you know, and it helped me sleep better and help me do that And they’re like really I hadn’t done that got my girl.
You better do it I hear you so and you know I’m all about just talking and having real raw open conversations because I think it’s so important like not to hide all of us go through.
That’s absolutely right.
It doesn’t matter what color you are, how tall you are.
It doesn’ matter.
We’re all gonna go through it.
So I think it’s so important to have those conversations.
So back to the kids.
I think that too, it’s just like, it’s important to say like, this didn’t work out for me, or this is how I had my kid, or this what I did and this was my journey.
And then it also helps you feel more like, oh, it okay.
Yes.
Like, oh, I.
You know, one thing when I was pregnant, I checked my underwear every single time I went to the bathroom.
I mean, sure we all get that at some point.
Is it still there? Exactly.
It’s like when no one talks about that because it’s just a natural, it’s almost like a natural reaction.
It’s so true.
Yes.
Yeah, it’s like because you just have stress the entire time you’re pregnant until you actually get the baby then you have a whole nother stress, but That’s right.
But it’s just like just, you know, having those conversations.
Mm-hmm.
I am so with you one of the reasons why I like to be open and honest is because we didn’t have that Necessarily and the truth is is that We don’t pay enough attention to women’s health There’s so much we don’t know about our bodies so much that doctors don’t share with us Even the issue of conceiving and freezing eggs if you don’t have the right doctor at the right time You may not get that information I still know young women who aren’t thinking about freezing their eggs because nobody mentioned that to them.
So it becomes, do you have the right doctor? Are you in the right location? Do you have that? Yeah, because even if you get married later.
.
.
Even if you get married later, you can still use those eggs with your husband.
It doesn’t, like, it’s just so, you just have so many more opportunities and options and so, I don’t know, for me I was really happy that I did it.
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As a matter of fact, our whole family lived within a two block radius.
So they were not only our family, they were our neighbors too.
And one piece of advice I remember was from our uncle Terry who lived downstairs.
And you know what that was? He told me.
Don’t cut the grass right after it rains.
And I remember that he always mowed the grass in a three-piece suit, a fedora, and suspenders.
Maybe he took the jacket off, but he was a gentleman, a Pullman porter.
He sure was.
And had that push lawnmower, so it was never the electric one.
Which is why he told me not to cut the grass right after rain because that thing would have never cut anything But we learned a lot about home ownership because Uncle Terry was the first homeowner that we lived with.
Yeah.
That we knew, yeah.
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So then you got pregnant and you were, you were in a Grand Slam tournament when you, when did you, whoa.
I mean, okay, can you walk us back to when you found out and because you were pregnant when you won the Australian Open in 2017.
I had no intention of winning.
Yeah.
But.
.
.
Just for the record.
You were just, I’m just here.
Just for record.
I don’t know, this is one time I can lose and not be upset about it.
Really? No, because I remember thinking, so it all started in New Zealand.
I was playing a tournament before the Australian Open in New Zeeland, and I’m not the most positive person on the court.
If anyone ever followed my career, everyone was making fun of Coco.
Everyone see that, making fun.
I know, right? Serena’s like, oh, you just hold on.
Because I was like, uh, can you smash that in one go? Like, hello? Coco, you can do better than that, girl.
You can do it better than.
And then, of course, someone started pulling up all the pictures of the rackets I smashed.
I was, like, wait, when is this a Serena roast? I was just trying to support her.
Just trying to help the girl out, just get off my back.
So anyway, I was at this tournament with the famous attitude that I may have had sometimes.
And I just had a bad, I just lost to this girl that I just, I shouldn’t have lost to.
And I remember I was just so mad, it was windy and I was mad at the wind and it was the ball kid, I was at the ball kit and I, was so angry with everything.
I was so mad.
And I, sure I smashed a racket.
I was miserable.
And even in the presser after, we all know about pressers after.
Oh my God.
I said, I hate this place.
I never did this in my life.
I said, I hate this place.
I’m never coming back.
It sucks.
I was miserable.
So then next week I’m in Australia and I’m working out and I don’t know, I’m like, why am I breathing so hard? Why am I.
.
.
Anyway, eventually I, also my boobs were massive, massive, massive.
And I was like, okay, I’m just gonna take a test.
And I took a test, it was positive, but I was, okay this is crazy.
And so anyway, so I ended up going to the doctor And he’s like, oh, surprise, you’re like.
I like, what am I, like four weeks pregnant? Like, no, you’re seven weeks pregnant.
Wow.
And I was like, wait, what? What? Excuse me? It was crazy.
But then it all made sense as to why I was so bad.
I mean, I was really, that was the worst, one of, probably one of the worst of the worse.
And you weren’t pregnant those other times.
Well, you know, I thinking about being a mom.
I always wanted to be a mom Yeah.
I was probably in the back of my head, so yeah, so then I was like, oh my gosh, so then I thought to myself, wow, self, what are we gonna do? Uh-huh.
And so.
.
.
Success.
There’s a baby in here and did you already commit it to play at the open? Yeah, and I was hooked up I pulled out a doubles and Venus didn’t tell me anything but later on she said when you pulled out I knew you’re pregnant I’m like you didn’t her no because I also felt really bad because I was just like I Didn’t want to pull out and I didn’t want her to be stressed and then it was it’s it was crazy I couldn’t you know, just didn’t wanna stress anybody out so One of my sisters knew and the baby daddy knew my husband.
Yeah, that’s good.
That’s good That’s it and my agent knew Jill Uh-huh.
So we just kept and then but apparently Venus knew too So she told like early on it was like on the third round in the locker room She’s like she told me and I was like, oh, okay And then I felt bad in the final because I was Like I always felt bad because I always like she probably wanted to make take it easy on me because she’s always protecting me Yeah, so it was I wish she I really wish she hadn’t known Yeah, because then maybe I don’t know maybe it would have been different Maybe it wouldn’t have but still I just like to be super fair with whoever i’m playing So yeah, so that’s kind of how it happened and then at the end I was nine weeks pregnant and then well, it was nuts So how’d you? Feel through.
I mean, I was.
I was exhausted.
I remember playing points and so are so most of us Most of us are just in bed, you know, we’re not like breaking rackets, we just in bed.
I had to sleep for that.
I remember thinking to myself, I can’t play long points.
I need to finish, I have to, three shots and I have to be done.
So I hit like, I was like, I had to hit lots of winners and lots of aces and which is an insane strategy.
You were on a mission.
But I hadn’t planned on winning, but every time I kept winning I was like, oh, I could beat her.
And then, you know, and I was like, Oh, I couldn’t beat her and then it was like Oh, gotta beat her, she pissed me off.
So she got to go down.
There was only one or two of those.
You just, you just revenged your way to the title.
Ha ha! Oh, girl.
And then there was another one.
I can’t miss her.
I mean, I have some sort of pride.
So that’s how, that’s all I would ask.
Wow, wow.
So did it feel extra good? Okay, that’s what I was saying, so I couldn’t have long points.
So if I had a really long point, if you go back and watch the footage, I would lose the next point.
And of course, it’s only, my opponents don’t get that, they don’t understand that rhythm because that’s normally, not normally how I play.
But you know, when you’re getting every, eventually you’ll see that after a long point, Serena loses the next one.
Point.
So you have to because you’re trying to catch your breath.
You’re trying.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I also have to keep a face on that doesn’t let anyone know that I’m, you know, it’s like surely can’t breathe.
But women can do anything.
Amen.
Amen.
Especially with the help of God, you can do everything.
And I knew I was having a girl because.
Australia gets really high, they do Celsius, so it’s like 43 is like 120.
And one day I had to play in 43 and I was like, no way, there’s no way.
And that’s when I knew I’m having a girl because I said to myself, no way can a boy.
Make it.
They just, sorry y’all.
I genuinely said this.
I genuinely and I told my husband that day we were having a girls, there is no way a little boy could handle everything putting this baby under.
And we had a girl.
That’s right.
Olympia was just like, mom, we’re cool.
Yeah.
I got you.
I’m hanging on.
Hanging in there.
I wish you’d just win this point.
But you know what? She has a bad attitude like me.
She gets angry if she doesn’t win.
She gets so mad.
Well, we don’t call that a bad attitude.
We call that competitive determination.
Thank you.
Okay, we call that competitive determination.
Yes, that’s what we, yes, no, that is what we call it, that isn’t a bad attitude.
Man acted that way.
Yeah, yeah, well they told me for years it’s a bad attitude.
Yeah.
I love this.
But guess what? I’m getting some good insights now.
We’re both the youngest, and there’s something about that determination, I believe, and I see it in my youngest.
We have two girls.
I think when you’re keeping up, I know I felt like my brother would deliberately learn how to play a game, go off, and then go, Meesh, let’s play.
And I’m like, dude.
You know, he was just gonna beat me down.
What’s the age difference? It’s a year and a half, it’s almost two years.
And so I’m always losing, you know? And trying to keep up, and after a while you just get pissed, you now? So I think there is a youngest child determinant in that, yeah.
Absolutely, for sure.
Yeah, but that doesn’t explain Olympia because she’s the oldest.
I know.
Okay.
I think it was just the situa.
.
.
That she was in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So a little bit from it, that’s okay though.
So, your labor and delivery experience was also a journey.
Can you talk about it? That was a journey.
I have these issues with my blood, so my blood can clot pretty easily.
So I have to be on certain type of medicines, especially if I’m pregnant.
I have always take injections every day.
Mm-hmm.
So when I had the baby, after I couldn’t breathe and I kept telling the lady, the nurse, I kept saying, I can’t breathe.
And she was like, oh, well, you know, you’ll be fine.
I said, no, actually, I think I need to get a CAT scan because I feel, I have blood clots in my lungs.
And you’re in the hospital.
I’m in the hospitals.
You had the, you had a C-section.
I’ve already had the the baby.
I had a c-section because.
She wouldn’t come out.
I knew I was going to have to have a c-section so I just had this premonition.
I just felt like I feel a lot and I don’t know three months in I was like I’m having a c section and so once they told me I had to have c section I wasn’t surprised and I went with the plan and also tell women now I say listen definitely if you want to push go for it I wish I could have done it but also if the doctor tells you they have to cut, do it, because I’ve seen so many kids be so affected because women want to stick to their plan of I must push, I must bush.
And I’ve seeing kids come out unfortunate and even die because they didn’t follow the, you know, follow what the doctor said.
Well, that’s another thing that women take on, that birth has to look a certain way.
And I, for one, was like, I went in five centimeters dilated, I thought about natural birth for literally the conversation I had with my doctor that said, okay, it was like eight.
And I said, well, how long is it going to take? How long am I going to have to be in this kind of pain? And she said about four hours.
And I was like, no.
Thank you.
Stick that needle right in my back.
I think I could have done it if she had said an hour, right? If she had this baby’s coming in an hour.
I’m like, okay, I can do it.
But four hours? I was like, so, I mean.
I applaud the women that can do this.
It’s wonderful.
Yay.
It’s not me.
For you.
But I’m like, are you? Is that something called the Ring of Fire? Oh yes, I never want to meet the ring, I don’t know.
See, I’m always like, would you get your tooth pulled without anesthesia? Is there anybody here? Would a man do that? Definitely not, no.
I know, you’re going to be the butt of all the man jokes.
He’s handling it well, though.
Steve over there cracking up.
You know y’all are weak.
I wouldn’t like you on that mission.
So, so anyway, so I was, I told the nurse that and she just was like, this is crazy talk, which may have sounded like crazy talk for me to tell him what to give her exactly quote unquote what I needed and how I needed it.
And then I started coughing so hard.
So all my stitches just like burst open because I couldn’t breathe.
And so like my, I was holding a pillow on my stomach and I was just coughing because just like I’m like they’re gonna break they’re going to break and I couldn’t breathe so I was just coughing coughing coughing and they broke and that was I had to have that redone I think I had like five surgeries mmm and that I don’t know it was I don’t remember some of them and then my doctor came in and I was like I can’t breathe I think i need this the CAT scan this is like after I’d already told the nurse and then because I remember my husband’s parents were there.
And I was in the room and they were talking and they were holding the baby and I calmly walked because I’m again you’re up walking I calmly walked back and I’m like I don’t want anyone to panic and that’s when I told the nurse I can’t breathe you know I was just like you know help me out here and she didn’t take me serious so then when the doctor came I was telling her I couldn’t breathe and she was like okay I could look at her and tell that I don’t know if she believed me but did everything I asked.
Mm-hmm.
And I was really grateful that I had her and that she was with me for the whole pregnancy journey.
And it’s so good to have a doctor that can listen to you.
And you might say things that don’t make sense, but still, she heard me, she listened.
And if she hadn’t listened, I wouldn’t be here.
And she made sure that she did what I asked, and then she found exactly what I said.
So then I had to have another surgery to get something in my veins to stop.
Clots from going to my heart.
I had so many surgeries.
It was how long were you in the hospital after you delivered? It was it wasn’t that long.
It’s only like eight days and you had that many Eight days it was crazy and then you had to go home with a baby.
And I remember my only goal was to be able to walk to the mailbox, and one day I walked to the mail box and I came back and I passed out for the rest of the day.
It was very intense.
I remember watching the documentary that followed your comeback, and it really moved me to see you, because it showed you and you and the family leaving with Olympia in the carrier, and you were determined to carry her, but it was clear that you were struggling.
That you were physically, you were not the Serena Williams everybody knew, but I also was very proud of you for showing that story and anyone who hasn’t, remind me the name of that.
Was being Serena.
Being Serena, this is like watching her journey and her comeback.
You show it all in a way that is so powerful.
And if I didn’t love you before, then I loved you even more just watching your determination to get that baby home, regardless of your health, but you were struggling.
Yeah, I was really struggling but I also had some great help, you know, and sometimes, you know family is so important and not everyone has family and so I just felt so grateful that I did have that at my husband and I had my family and then because I don’t remember the I don’t think I remember the first three weeks because I remember my husband’s sister came to visit and she told me like a year later and I was like I vaguely remember What are you there? I would have never remembered it if she hadn’t reminded me.
I was like, oh my gosh.
Everything was just so, it was a lot, yeah.
But it was good.
And I think that everyone has their own journey.
And I was blessed to have my journey.
The more I talk to women, the more I understand and see that everyone’s journey is, not everyone, but a lot of women’s journey, is so intense.
Yes.
And often worse than mine.
Giving birth is intense, which is why, it is why maternal health should not be a political football.
Because what our bodies do, what we are capable of doing is amazing.
But the fact that there isn’t research done on maternal health, there’s a limited amount of information we get about our health.
We aren’t encouraged to ask questions.
We aren t encouraged to talk amongst each other and I just want us to vow today You know regardless of our generation that we don’t pass that down to the next generation That we we owe them that the knowledge the wisdom because we want to know.
I mean, everyone wants to know, and they don’t want to know if they don t know.
So it’s just like knowledge is power.
It’s like when you go to school, you would never know the things that you learn unless you’re taught those.
You weren’t asked to learn about so many subjects, but you learn about them.
And I feel the same way about us and our health and passing on that knowledge, and I think it’s so important.
So, we’re back in LA for another round of IMO recordings, and it’s All-Star weekend.
Mm, I know.
How’s your trip going? You know, really well, and Kelly and the kids are here, so we’re gonna try and check out some of these all-star activities.
Yeah.
You know, it’s been a busy time at home with the boys’ basketball schedules and we’ve got a busy week of recordings here in LA.
So it’s always nice having a relaxing place to stay while I’m here.
I know what you mean.
I mean, I don’t have that issue, but I know from your experiences that when you’re on the road, you got to have a place that feels kind of like home.
Exactly.
And this time, my Airbnb has a steam shower, a fireplace.
But Mish, I know you’ve got quite a busy schedule of your own.
You and Barack are prepping for a really big week of events.
The grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in June, right? Yeah, yeah, we are so excited about the opening, the art in it is amazing, and we can’t wait to share it with the community and with the world.
That’s so great, and I’m sure Chicago will be seeing a lot of visitors that week, including myself and my family.
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So Chicago, can’t wait to see you in June.
See you there! Well, let’s turn to your mother, because so much, yeah, everybody talks about your dad and the relationship with your dad, and your mom sits in those stands in a way that I could never.
She, I mean, I just couldn’t watch my kids play, but she was always there.
I had the opportunity to meet her briefly.
I think we were in Wimbledon for the Olympics.
And I was there representing the United States for whatever reason.
What sport did you get a man? I did not.
I got no medal.
But you did.
You got a few.
But I met your mom.
Talk about your mom, you know.
Tell us about that amazing woman and what you’ve learned from her as a mother.
Well, my mom is a very strong woman.
She’s definitely not sharing all this information though Yes, really came from that generation where mine either.
Yeah Marion, but it’s like don’t remember anything.
Yes She’s very tough.
My mom’s very yeah, and she’s she’s actually the oldest of her siblings.
So she’s always been a mom Yeah.
And, you know, it’s interesting to be something that you’ve always been and then to grow up and to become a mother.
And then she also took care of our grandkids.
So, well, her grandkids, so my mom, you know, growing, I’ll start growing up.
Growing up, I wasn’t the best tennis player was always Venus who was so great.
And so I was demoted to my mom’s court because my dad, Venus, Venus always played with my dad.
And because he was better than my mom, he actually taught my mom.
My mom must have been an incredible athlete to learn how to play.
Really? That fast.
And so from there, I would always be on her court.
And so I always wanted to be on my dad’s court because he more easy going and he was more fun.
People always think the opposite.
Oh, he was easy going, really? Yes.
And so on my mom’s court, there was no games.
I had to be serious and I had do all this stuff.
But then looking back, I was able to see that she was able to instill so much mental toughness that I had that my sister actually did not end up getting because I had to do so much.
I had work so hard.
I had do so many more things on her court.
Like there were no games.
It was so serious.
Like it was just, it’s, I was very, in the end I was grateful that I that time with her to just focus on technique and focus on just not letting anything go.
Because it really showed up in my game as a professional athlete, mentally and physically.
And so that came from my mom.
And so my mom, then she traveled with us.
Actually, the first tournament I ever won, we had to split again.
My dad was with Venus, and I was with my mom in Paris.
And it was my first tournament.
I think I was like 16.
And I remember we shared a room, because I loved Paris.
So I remember like we were at this hotel on the other side of the Seine, the river.
And I remember that we shared a room and she had the bed and I slept on the cot because I love sleeping on a cot.
Okay, all right, that was news you can use Serena Williams loves a cut! And.
.
.
I remember every night I wanted to watch cartoons.
I don’t know.
Because you guys were big cartoon people.
You liked Disney.
I still am, by the way.
I love animation.
I’m into Marvel.
I was gonna let you blame that on the kids, but still a big kid.
So I was still pretty young, I still had an excuse though.
And so she didn’t mind.
And so like she made, she watched it with me every night.
And so it was such a good memory and it’s a good moment.
And I remember every night after I would win a match, because I always played this, I was in France and I played, oh, my whole draw was French people.
Mm-hmm.
And the stadium was probably the size of this room, but it was loud, loud, loud, loud, loud.
And so every time I played, everyone was massively against me, naturally, because I’m playing their country person, nothing personal.
It was crazy.
And so, every night I come home like, wow, I can’t believe I got through that.
Every night.
So I just kind of shut off my brain.
We watched some animated something and then, and then that was that.
And so eventually when I won, I was just remember being so happy.
And then I remember we called Venus and she hadn’t won.
So she played another match and she won her tournament.
So we both won different tournaments and we were so happy.
And so, so then you fast forward a little bit more, we start winning Grand Slams and my mom was there for all the Grand Slaps and our first Olympics was actually in Sydney and my bomb was there.
My mom’s also very clumsy.
One time, and she loves sweets.
So one time we were at Wimbledon, and we see this woman hobbling along the road.
And I’m like, mom, what happened? It’s my mom.
Mom, what’s going on? And she’s like, you need to see a doctor.
I’m good.
I’m gonna get some cookies.
Well, you just drive past and she’s.
Yes, we’re like, why aren’t you at the house? I need some cookies.
I want, like, are you, oh, you are not okay.
She had a broken toe.
But she was gonna get her cookies.
Uh.
.
.
And she used to always hide cookies under the seat when we were driving.
She’s talking cookies and my dad would be like, why are all these cookies up here? So she definitely has a sweet tooth, which is kind of funny, but it’s it’s I have so many good memories.
Like being coached by your mom So how did that being coach your was that always good was it because we got a lot of moms on here Probably did their share of coaching How did how did your mom maintain that sort of special mom relationship or did she so I think what a lot? People don’t realize is that we travel every time we went to Australia probably actually every time went to France my mom was always there my dad actually never went to those tournaments and so she was always our coach for all that time and so I don’t know how many Australian opens I’ve won and she a lot yes so she basically coached me through all of them and I remember one time when I was 89 in the world and everyone had written me off.
I was like 20 something.
And they said I would never win again, blah, blah blah.
And she told me before in the final before I played, I think I was playing Maria in that final Maria Sharapova, she was like, she said, you’ve got this, you’re going to do that.
She told me exactly how to play.
And I won in less than an hour.
And it was really genius.
So she actually was a very great coach.
And she’ll say little things.
My mom is not someone that’s gonna fill a room.
She’s gonna say one word.
Yeah.
But it’s going to be the most powerful word in the room, and that’s it.
And so, she’ll say one thing like, you need to attack the forehand, if it’s low.
Or there’s something, but you have to listen.
And if you listen, you can catch on to it, and you can be like, okay.
And that’s the kind of person she is, even in life.
You know, she always says like, raising my kids, she’ll be like you need be with those girls.
Yeah.
And so no matter what’s happening in the world or what we’re all going through, I always remember, I gotta be with those girls.
Cause she was always there with us.
And now that looking back, like she never spent a day away from us, all the girls.
And so, and then she’s also the kind of person like my sister unfortunately passed early on.
And she’s the kind of person that I remember when she found out, like we all were just traumatized.
She just dropped everything.
And she moved to L.
A.
Actually, and then she took care of the grandkids, and she raised them, and she never moved back.
So that’s the kind of person that she is.
She’s used to responsibility, and she has a lot on her shoulders, but she’s so proud to carry it.
And then now she’s instilled that into all of our daughters, to just carry that power, to carry that strength, and to pass it on to our kids, and to my kids, and all the other grandkids.
So it’s really.
She’s an amazing person.
Yeah, that’s the quick version.
Yeah, no.
It’s so much that I can say about my mom, but she’s really.
That’s your mom.
The last thing I’ll say is, yeah, we do talk about our dad a lot, and we wouldn’t be here without our dad.
Yeah.
Obviously, we obviously wouldn’t here without our mom.
But I’ve always described my mom as, I always describe us like this.
My dad is a body, because it was his vision, it was goal, and it was a dream.
But my mom is a spine.
Cannot function without that spine, the nerves that come from it, the nervous system.
You can have a dream, you can have everything all set, but it’s not going to work unless you have that part of you.
And so that’s kind of how I describe my mom.
Yeah.
So what kind of mom are you? Are you a spine-like mom? I always ask this question a lot about parenting philosophy.
Because I think one of the things I admired most about my mom, my mom didn’t go to college.
My parents were working class folks.
She was the middle of seven.
But my mom was so.
.
.
Emotionally intelligent, and she had such great common sense, just like your mind.
I wouldn’t have to say much, but everybody wanted to hear from her.
And one of the things that I learned from her was that, you know, you just don’t have kids.
You have to understand that you’re raising people.
And so her approach to raising us was to talk to us.
Who she wanted us to be later on, you know? She didn’t treat us like babies, she loved us dearly, but she believed that all kids are born with a level of intelligence and ability, and she treated us that way.
So she taught me, like, as I grew up, I was like, my mom had this really deep philosophy about parenting, you now, stuff you learn in sociology and psychology classes just came naturally to her.
So I kinda think about parenting as this huge responsibility to think about where am I trying to get my girls, not how I feel in the moment.
So I always wonder what folks’ parenting philosophies are and do you think you have one and how would you describe your mothering approach? So Venus is a planner.
She writes everything down.
Even when she got married, it was just, boom, everything was just over.
It was a lot, to be honest.
Don’t worry, this is coming full circle.
Um, so she was always a person that read books, like that would get through everything, like would know exactly what she wants to do.
So I, I think I’m different.
I don’t have like a, like, that plan.
I never had like a philosophy.
I just as organized as I am in my life, like to a point where everything is labeled, my parenting skills is different.
I kind of feel like.
Obviously I have spiritual goals for the kids.
I have, you know, ideas for education goals.
I have those types of things, but I never really thought much about.
Over, my philosophy is just to be the best that I can to show up and to also be, I felt like I love my parents and how they raised us and just kind of pick and choose out of the some of the things that they raised us with, in particular with my mom, how she raised us.
So for me, I really try to be a present parent.
Mm-hmm.
And sometimes that’s hard, especially with the lives that we live, it’s very hard to be present, but I try to be extremely present.
How do you manage that? Everything is around my kids.
If I have to do something, I’m gone more than 24 hours, ever.
I didn’t leave Olympia until she was six for 24 hours.
Mm-hmm.
So that was, that may have been a little extreme, but I, that’s who I am.
And so for me, I show up every, as much as I can every single day for the girls.
Cause I feel like they mean the most to me and I feel they need me and they need to make sure, I wanna raise my children.
I’m a person that’s raising my kids and that’s teaching them how I want them to live and how I them to be.
That’s beautiful.
That was beautiful.
So like me, you have two girls.
Yes, I wanted to copy you.
Yeah.
You were so inspiring to me.
And three years apart, way to go.
How is that? I always thought I was gonna have three boys.
I don’t know why, you know, I don’t know why.
I always though I was a bit of a tomboy when I was younger.
I could see you with son.
Yeah, I followed around my brother.
I love.
Boys, I thought they were funnier than girls.
I’ve learned you guys, you have some qualities.
She looks at Steve.
Again So I always thought I was gonna be the sports mom the you know And then I have these two girls and I am so grateful for my little women and They are just amazing grown women now 28 and 24 out in the world And I can tell you I have loved every second of mothering every second.
But it’s just interesting the same gender to girls and I talk to my friends who have boys and they’re like boys are definitely different you know like Malia and Sasha could sit and color for hours we could get on a plane and I thought mothers of boys you all laugh at that right? I mean they sit and read and color and you can talk to them and there’s no throwing anything.
I don’t think we had a lot of balls around the house.
Then I go to my brother’s house who have nephews, and they would come to visit at the White House, and they’d just walk in sweaty.
You know? I mean, I was like, why are they wet? You know, you just got here.
And they’d come in damp and just throw cars and balls all on the first floor of the White house.
And I’m like, ooh, this is different.
But anyway, I digress.
Your precious little ladies.
How are they? How does it feel being a mom to daughter? Yeah, I’ve As you know, I’ve always wanted to be a mom.
I’ve only wanted girls.
I could have 10 girls, I would be happy.
I grew up with four sisters.
Yeah.
So I was the fifth sister.
I’ve never been around boys.
Yeah.
So when I got pregnant, I actually had a quick panic attack.
I was so certain it was a girl, but when they took the blood to do the blood test, I was like, oh my God, I don’t know what to do if I have a boy.
I’ve never been around boys.
And I really like, I’m just going crazy.
I was like, can’t have a boys.
And so I remember, I went nuts, so I have no, I was like, I don’t know what to do.
Yeah, so that’s all I know is girls, and I just always wanted girls.
I’ve always been, growing up, I always wore dresses.
I was that girl with the princess.
Yes, your twirl.
The twirl, you know, tutus, like that was all me.
And so, ugh, I love dressing them up.
They’re actually, right now, I think Olympia’s wearing a Mulan dress as we speak.
Of course.
Because they’re at Disney World.
In there.
So she must be in Milan.
My idol.
Look at me.
The little one is wearing an Anna dress.
Oh, okay.
So I’m like, oh, can you go buy them Nord dresses, please? So I felt that I’m just, yeah.
So my older daughter is very much like me, very much like girly, girly girl.
And my younger daughter is.
Somewhat like Somewhat like me.
I always describe her as like a she’ll wear a princess dress with tennis shoes.
Okay.
Yeah Yeah, and so she plays with cars.
Yeah Like my one of my sisters played with cars a lot.
So she reminds me a little bit of her She loves hot wheels But she’ll wear hot wheels while wearing a Rapunzel dress.
It’s like, where’s my tiara dress? Give me the corvette.
I love it.
And Olympia and I have never, is Olympia’s five years older than Adira? So we never played with cars and stuff.
So we’re all like, oh, this is actually really fun.
So Olympia are always playing with Adira’s toys.
They’re like, look at go.
So it’s nice that we have a little bit of a mix like that.
It’s really fun.
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How do you balance your parenting philosophy with your husband? What have you learned from him about parenting? One thing, he loves, he’s a, and this is a positive word now.
Okay, yeah.
He’s a nerd.
Okay, yes, it is very much very positive especially a nerd with a job.
Yes, we love nerds.
We love nerd Nerds pay the bill Damn! So he’s all about explaining.
Uh-huh, okay.
So, he’ll like.
.
.
A lot of explaining.
So, Olympia does something.
He’ll like tell Olympia, like, okay, so, you know, why do you think you’re learning about this? And then he goes into this whole reason as to why.
And I’m like, hmm, that’s good.
So, I like how he.
.
.
I like there’s like a balance.
Yeah kind of gives her the reasons and she understands, like, you know, she’ll ask a question about something, he’ll go in a deep version about it.
But it’s nice, because then she gets that knowledge and she really, you now, really gets it.
And then for me, my philosophy is like, what do you like to do? How are we gonna do this together? You know, it’s super important not to ever.
Diminish what he’s doing as the man of the house.
You wanna make sure that you’re always uplifting him.
That’s my philosophy.
So I always wanna make that we’re on the same page.
And also with things that I want, like I want the kids to do this, to whatever sport or to go to this school or just coming together for those decisions.
So yeah, so I feel like we work very well in that part.
That’s great.
It’s great I always say you know you can have one kid and you know swear you’re a good parent it’s like I got this look at me I know all the things and then you have the other one and you know they just kids babies they come into this world as their own individual cells, truly.
And that is, it’s a beautiful thing.
I mean, like snowflakes, really.
But it can be a challenge if you think that, one size fits all in parenting.
As a parent, when I make a.
Mistake I make sure I say sorry.
Absolutely.
Because it is important for first of all to have that humility and to teach my daughter’s humility and second of all I never want them to think that I can’t a mom can’t apologize to someone younger.
So I’ve been wrong a few times with Olympia and I am the first to tell her you were right I didn’t do that right you were you I’m sorry and so it’s just I think it’s a good practice for me.
And hopefully maybe someone else, but I feel like it’s a very good thing to do.
I totally agree, and I’ve apologized a lot.
Raising kids in the public eye, you know, I mean, we both have have done it.
It is, it just makes the process 10 times more unnerving.
Because, you worry that your kids can’t make mistakes because everybody, it’s going to be on You know, I mean, we would have those kind of conversations about.
You know, you have to, our girls had to learn to think like comms people, like comm’s directors, and at a very young age, and it served them well today.
I mean, they are very poised, very mature, but it’s a lot of pressure that they didn’t ask for.
How are you approaching the public nature of who you are, how you live.
How are you thinking about that at this stage in the girls’ life? That’s one thing that I try to do and I never as public as you I can’t imagine a scrutiny that you guys had to go through especially the children every single day.
So for me I try, I just try to make sure that my children are very normal.
I pretty much live under a rock.
I live in a very small town in Florida where I can go anywhere and it’s normal because Michael Jordan also lives there.
Sort of like.
So everybody’s like, we all want to go to this magical place where you can run into Serena and Michael at the 7-Eleven.
And Tiger, and everyone lives in this small city.
We’re not going to divulge where that is, because everybody’s going to be there.
And so everyone is normal, but it was really important for me not to.
Normal ish.
Just a lot of athletes live in this town.
Really? I don’t know why.
Like, wow.
But it’s great because it’s been normalized as we’ve been all living in there for so many years.
But it works.
And so for me, I try so hard to make sure Olympia is.
Just like everyone else.
Like she’s not seen as anyone special.
I don’t tell that she’s special.
I never told her I played tennis.
You know, when she started reading, she saw me and she asked questions.
It’s like, what is, what are you doing? Come sit back in the audience with everybody else.
Put that racket down, you silly goose.
Kindergarten.
She’s like, Mom, why are you in my book? So eventually she liked her.
But I don’t live that life where you think that I am.
And this is funny, but it’s also very true.
We also have friends that are very famous.
So when we hang out with them, they seem extremely normal.
Yes, yes.
So we go to Michael’s house or Tiger’s house.
It’s like, okay, you’re good.
Yeah.
So it is very average for us.
And so that’s what I want them to do.
I don’t want them ever feel like, cause I don’t want them feel they’re better than anyone else or they have an advantage cause that just, we don’t need that anymore in the system that we live in.
We just need some kids that are just as normal as you can be.
Mm-hmm.
So that’s what I do.
And if they wanna grow up and they wanna be a great athlete or they wanna a great programmer, then they have every right to do that.
And yeah, they’re gonna have an advantage because of the life that I’ve lived, and the life my husband lived.
Sure, they still gonna have advantage, but they’re still gonna work hard to do there and to make any goal that they wanna make.
And so for me, it’s super important that they understand that.
Mmm.
And that they don’t feel like they’re better than anyone else.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I hear that you served as the classroom mom.
Yeah, I was her mom, because I love my daughter and I’m obsessed.
What, when, was this recently? Yeah, since she was in second grade.
Tell us about that Serena on the text Everyone.
You bring cookies? That was me.
That was you? That was.
Oh, man.
It was so fun because I got to go to the school every day or if I wanted I could be in the classroom.
One time I was there for the spelling bee and I was like, you know, just pretending to work on the library while I was watching all the kids spell and then poor Olympia got her word wrong and I’m like, poor kid.
She did her best though, but she tried.
I didn’t say anything.
I pretended I didn’t t hear because I didn t want her to feel the pressure that I is there.
And it was so fun, I got to help organize all the, I love organizing.
So I got organized all the food for the teacher appreciation day and the field trips and everything for that year.
So your daughter doesn’t know who you are, but those teachers and parents know who are.
But you know what, they’re really.
Really cool about it.
They’re really cool.
I feel like they don’t treat anyone any different throughout the whole school.
And the school is also very tough, so you have to really be on it and go show up every day.
And so it’s really nice.
We are running out of time and I know it’s been short but I wanna give us time to wrap it up and I would love for you to share with this room of moms, especially moms of athletes who have made a level of sacrifice.
What advice do you have? What parting words of wisdom? And do you think you can share? I know that’s heavy.
Yeah, I don’t know if I have advice.
I feel like you guys have done it.
You’ve already you’ve made it I mean to be in this room is a super win already I would say I have more appreciation I’m sure you hear from your kids but If it weren’t for you, you would We wouldn’t be here.
We wouldn’t be on these teams and You know what? I just as a as someone that had my mom supporting me You know it is I feel so grateful to my mom every single day to give me this opportunity to believe in me, even when things were rough and things were down, to show up every day for me, to be there when I didn’t wanna be there, to tell me to go an extra day when I didn’t want to go.
So I think all your sons can agree that they’re super grateful.
For what you guys have done for them, because without you, they wouldn’t be there.
So I think you guys deserve a huge pat on the back, a huge round of applause, and so happy for the opportunity that you’ve given your children.
And what’s next for Serena in life that you want to share? Not trying to break news.
Just, girl, I’m just like, how you doing? And what is going on? You got so much on your plate.
What are you most excited about next? I’m most excited about, well, getting back to my girls.
Yes.
And I don’t know, I feel like there’s a, I have a lot of opportunities and just deciding which ones I wanna go with and see how, in which direction.
Okay, that was a good way to absolutely say nothing.
I’m healthy, so I’m just happy to be healthy.
You sure are, girl.
I’m happy to be happy.
You sure are, girl.
You look great.
You look Great.
Thank you.
Serena, thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to be with us.
Thank you so much.
This was so fun.
Thank you! Yeah, thank for your honesty, your openness.
Keep doing that.
The world needs this information.
They need to see their idols being normal, human beings in the world being grounded and protective of the people that they love.
I am always proud of you.
I’m happy to share this stage with you, and hopefully we’ll do something again soon.
Yes, believe me the pleasure was mine.
I had so much fun.
Thank you all for having me Can we take a selfie before we go? We can, I just want to say thank you to all the moms on behalf of this mom here.
Thank you for your sacrifice, for your love, for setting the foundation for the next generation.
It is the most important work that a person can do in life, I think, is to raise a decent human being.
Because I think that if everybody took that job as seriously as everybody in this room, you know, we’d solve a lot of problems that way, just by taking care of the people we choose to bring into this world.
So we are grateful to you all.
