14 DAY TRIAL // Serena Williams has just won her fourth Wimbledon title but it’s not her athletic performances that she’s opening about in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar. The star, known for being very outspoken as regards matters of body image and body confidence, sat down with the famous women’s magazine to talk her workout regime and aversion to diets, as well as how long it took her to finally accept that she was different from other women.
Both Williams sisters have what one may describe as “curvy” figures, though that’s far from saying they’re fat or unfit. Serena, for instance, admits that it cost her dearly to accept that she would never be lean or even stick thin, and that she would never get to wear whatever she wanted. Unlike Venus, who is less curvy, Serena has a large backside and ample cleavage which, of course, makes it impossible for her to wear certain types of clothes. It’s just now that she’s finally accepted that and made peace with the idea that she’s different.
But different is great, says the star. “Since I don’t look like every other girl, it takes a while to be okay with that. To be different. But different is good. I feel so much [prettier] with short hair. I wanted to reach inside me and feel better. I don’t want to hide behind a facade of hair. My smile [remains my favorite part of my body]. Does that count? I think a smile can make your whole body. Models, they look fabulous, but they don’t smile and they look so mad. But I like my smile, how it’s bright and it’s nice. Good thing my braces worked out,” Serena says of her healthy body image.
“I wanted to get really fit. I wanted to lose some weight. So I’ve been doing Pilates and yoga, trying to lean out my body so I won’t be bulky,” the star explains of her latest workout regimen, which included Pilates two to three times a week. “I don’t even know the D word [i.e. dieting]. Smaller portions of every meal, a lot of grilled or baked chicken or fish, and steamed veggies. [But] I can never turn down a good piece of cherry pie, but, all I know is that in 10 years, I don’t want to be as wide as this couch,” Serena adds of her eating plan.
Of course, having reached this point where she’s happy with her body and would never succumb to pressure to lose weight by dieting foolishly doesn’t mean that there isn’t one part of her body she’d like to change. For instance, Serena has never liked her arms – let alone now, when years of training have made them very muscular, almost manly, she says. With all that, because they (her arms) pay the bills, Serena chooses not to complain and just accept them as they are.