I almost died after giving birth to my daughter, Olympia.
Yet I consider myself fortunate.
While I had a pretty easy pregnancy, my daughter was born by emergency C-section after her heart rate dropped dramatically during contractions. The surgery went smoothly. Before I knew it, Olympia was in my arms. It was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever experienced in my life. But what followed just 24 hours after giving birth were six days of uncertainty.
It began with a pulmonary embolism, which is a condition in which one or more arteries in the lungs becomes blocked by a blood clot. Because of my medical history with this problem, I live in fear of this situation. So, when I fell short of breath, I didn’t wait a second to alert the nurses.
This sparked a slew of health complications that I am lucky to have survived. First my C-section wound popped open due to the intense coughing I endured as a result of the embolism. I returned to surgery, where the doctors found a large hematoma, a swelling of clotted blood, in my abdomen. And then I returned to the operating room for a procedure that prevents clots from traveling to my lungs. When I finally made it home to my family, I had to spend the first six weeks of motherhood in bed.
I am so grateful I had access to such an incredible medical team of doctors and nurses at a hospital with state-of-the-art equipment. They knew exactly how to handle this complicated turn of events. If it weren’t for their professional care, I wouldn’t be here today.
Serena Williams is still hard at work on getting back to her pre-baby body, nearly a year after she welcomed her second child.
Sitting down with ET’s Rachel Smith to discuss her new docuseries, In the Arena: Serena Williams, the 42-year-old tennis pro opened up about her health goals, her daughters and what it was like looking back on her career as a now-retired player.
As for the first part, the 23-time Grand Slam winner has been candid in recent months about her desire to fit back into a cherished Valentino skirt from before her pregnancies, keeping her social media followers updated on her progress after declaring her intent to wear the beloved denim clothing item again.
“The journey is coming! I actually have another one that I’m gonna post,” she shared with ET of her goal to fit back into the skirt. “The fun part is when that journey is over, I just got some new pants that I can’t quite fit in.”
The mom of two added, “But I’m still getting there, I still have a little more baby weight to come off.”
There’s certainly no rush from her fans, especially since the tennis GOAT just gave birth to her second daughter, Adira, in August. Williams also shares 6-year-old Olympia with her husband of six years, Alexis Ohanian.
While Adira may not be at the age yet where she can give her mom her unfiltered opinions, that is one issue Olympia has no trouble with. Earlier this year, the elder of Williams’ two daughters hilariously questioned her mom as she put on makeup, asking why she would be gussying herself up with “nowhere to go.”
Williams tells ET that things this second time around have been a little more manageable — and less stress-inducing — than it was when Olympia was a baby.
“I think [the] second time around is — I’m a little but more like, you know, if Adira falls, I don’t die like with Olympia,” she explained. “Now I’m like, ‘Oh, she’s tough, she’ll be fine.’ And she is tough.”
While Williams has been intently focused on getting herself back into pre-baby body shape, she also is making sure that her children don’t see it as anything else but a health goal. Earlier this year, she chatted with ET and addressed the importance of instilling body positivity principles in her young girls.
“For me, it’s super important for them to love who they are and whatever they look like,” she shared at the time. “I also foster that positivity by encouraging them to give others compliments, especially other girls compliments. So if I see a girl in their class, I’m like, ‘Oh, she looks pretty, right?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, I like her hair.’ I’m like, ‘I like her hair, too.'”
She continued, “So just kind of encouraging that, because it doesn’t matter what they look like. If you can find something positive about them then you’re also going to find something positive about you and then you’re gonna win.”
Another message she would want her daughters to learn is the same one she says she would tell her younger self. As the ESPN+ docuseries pulled archival footage from her prolific tennis career, Williams said it gave her the chance to look back and reexamine her life and her years in the sport.
“Relax a little bit more,” she said of what she would tell herself at age 14. “I was so intense on the court and wanted to be perfect at every moment and obviously that’s not possible. So, just take a deep breath and just relax and, you know, I think that would have helped me out a little bit.”
The docuseries, helmed by Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story director Gotham Chopra, recently premiered at Tribeca Festival to rave reviews. The show features Williams deconstructing major moments from her career and the impact each win and loss had on her life.
