Serena Williams reveals GLP-1 treatment helped her lose 31 pounds after giving birth

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Serena Williams has opened up to the public about what’s helped her feel stronger, healthier, and - most importantly - herself again, since giving birth.

The 43-year-old American tennis icon has revealed that she’s been using a GLP-1 medication, an injectable weight-loss drug, that’s helped her shed over 31 pounds.

“I feel great,” Williams told Peoplemagazine. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally”.

Her struggle with weight began after welcoming her first daughter, Alexis Olympia, in 2017, which led to postpartum changes she was unfamiliar with. She later had a second child (Adira) in 2023.

“I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” she explained.

“It was crazy because I'd never been in a place like that in my life where I worked so hard, ate so healthy and could never get down to where I needed to be at”.

For an athlete whose career was built on relentless discipline, that struggle felt especially jarring. “I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best,” said the 23-time Grand Slam champion.

“So it was very frustrating to do all the same things and never be able to change that number on the scale or the way my body looked”.

GLP-1 and its effect on the body

Determined to explore new options, Williams turned to Ro - a direct-to-patient healthcare company - for support with GLP-1 treatment. Under her doctor’s supervision, she began receiving Ro injections six months after the birth of her daughter, Adira.

GLP-1, short for glucagon-like peptide-1, mimics a naturally occurring hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite. By slowing digestion and signalling fullness to the brain, the medication reduces cravings and promotes weight loss.

Popular brand names include Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro, among others.

Still, the treatment is not without risks- especially when misused or taken without medical supervision. Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, loss of appetite, and dehydration.

More serious complications may include swelling of the pancreas, gallbladder disease which sometimes requires surgical removal, loss of muscle tissue, kidney injuries and hypoglycaemia, especially when combined with other medications.

For this reason, doctors stress that GLP-1s should only be taken under medical supervision and are not suitable for everyone.

Williams admits she hesitated at first. With the ongoing debate over weight-loss drugs, she wrestled with the same doubts others have voiced.

However, this week, she officially announced her partnership with Ro to launch a campaign aimed at normalising GLP-1 treatments and challenging the perception that using them is an “easy way out”.

Her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is also invested in the effort, serving as both an investor and board member at Ro.

GLP-1 drugs in Europe

While the GLP-1 weight-loss trend began in the US, it has quickly spread to Europe. Originally prescribed for diabetes, these drugs now fuel a multibillion-euro weight-loss industry driven by private demand, social media hype, and regulatory gaps.

Many Europeans are paying full price (often €1,000+ per month) out of pocket for GLP-1 injectables. For example, Italy’s private market for GLP-1 drugs exploded in 2024, reaching a staggering €26 billion in global anti-obesity drug spending, a more than tenfold increase compared to 2020.

More than 1 billion people worldwide live with obesity, and over 830 million are managing diabetes.

In Europe, over half the adult population is overweight, and 17 per cent are clinically obese. The World Obesity Federation projects that by 2050, 60 per cent of adults globally will fall into this category.

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