Serena Williams' daughter, 6-year-old Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., has caught on to just how big of a deal her mama is — and now she's popping with questions regarding the 42-year-old former tennis player's fame. In an interview with People for its 50th anniversary cover story, the mom of two opened up about sharing more of her career with her daughter now that she's at an age where she can better understand.
In fact, Serena recently explained to her curious child how she competed in and won the 2017 Australia Open while pregnant with Olympia.
“I told her the other day that she actually was in my belly when I won a big tournament, and she was surprised,” Serena said. “She's at an age now where I can kind of open up to her a little bit more and she can understand things more, whereas she didn't really understand before.”
But it didn't stop there. Olympia has been noticing how big of a deal her mom is, so Serena has found herself explaining more of her life to her daughter. “Olympia's now at an age where she's like, ‘Listen, I am wondering why are you so famous? Mommy, how do they know your name?’" the mom said.
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"I'm like, well,” she continued, laughing. “I don't live in the heart of LA or anything, I'm in a more quiet area where I'm very low key and I try to do all the normal mom stuff and all the normal life things.”
“I said, ‘You know how mommy is a little famous?’ She's like, ‘No, no, no, you're really, really, really…’ And I'm just like, ‘Oh my God, no, no, no.’ She was like, ‘No, yes you are. You're a great tennis player,’” Serena shared of a conversation with her daughter.
Serena and husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed another daughter, Adira Williams, in August 2023. The former tennis player explained that the whole family has had to adjust to the addition of the now 8-month-old.
“It's been really hectic to have two and then have all the brands,” Serena said, referring to her brand WYN Beauty. “I'm starting to sweat a little bit more, because now Adira recognizes me and she puts her arms out, she wants to come to me, and that honestly is so sweet and so cute. But then Olympia, she's 6 and she still wants a ton of attention from me.”
“It’s definitely getting to be a little bit harder, but I love it. I've always loved a challenge, I've never steered away from hard work.” She's even looped her 6 year old in to help her with her brand as a mini consultant.
“It’s fun to grow things and show your daughter as you're creating products, and say, ‘What do you think about this? Do you like this name?’ And then to literally have her say, ‘I like that name better than this,’" she said. “It’s something that's really cool, to really conceptualize together.”
