Serena Williams has opened up about the difficulties of motherhood and the complicated delivery she experienced while giving birth to her daughter.
In the February issue of Vogue – which features Serena posing with her adorable baby,Olympia, on the cover – the tennis champion revealed that her new role as a mum has had a big effect on her emotions.
‘Sometimes I get really down and feel like, Man, I can’t do this,’ she told the magazine. ‘It’s that same negative attitude I have on the court sometimes. I guess that’s just who I am. No one talks about the low moments – the pressure you feel, the incredible letdown every time you hear the baby cry. I’ve broken down I don’t know how many times.’
She also revealed that she spent the first six weeks of motherhood in bed because of a caesarean complication, which left her hemorrhaging at the site of her C-section.
‘I was happy to change diapers,’ her husband Alexis Ohanian says. ‘But on top of everything she was going through, the feeling of not being able to help made it even harder. Consider for a moment that your body is one of the greatest things on this planet, and you’re trapped in it.’
Taking to Instagram to share the cover Serena said: ‘When I first saw this @voguemagazine cover it brought tears to my eyes. All Vogue covers are special but to share this one with my beautiful daughter @olympiaohanian also the youngest Vogue cover star makes it moment I will never forget.’
Her husband Alexis also shared a photo from the shoot, with the caption ‘dance partner for life’.
You can read the full interview in the February 2018 issue of Vogue USA.
