View this post on Instagram[1]
Serena Williams has been a role model to women across the world for decades, and now, she's thanking the person who taught her everything she knows about strength — her mom. Since welcoming her first child [3] almost three weeks ago, the tennis champion has learned so much about motherhood, and it has her thinking about the way she was raised. On Tuesday, Serena posted an adorable photo of her daughter, Alexis [4], flexing her strong mini biceps (just like Mom's), and she reflected on her own journey to strength [5]. (Seriously, did that baby lift weights in the womb?!)
Serena wrote an emotional letter to her mother [6], Oracene Price, praising her for teaching her what it means to be a strong, black woman. "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," she wrote on Reddit. "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!"
It's hard to believe that after all the incredible things Serena's accomplished, people have the nerve to critique her appearance [8], but it's made her who she is, and Serena said she will raise her baby girl with the same empowering mentality she learned from her mother. Read her full note below.
Letter to my mom [9] from u_serenawilliams [10]