35-year-old tennis superstar Serena Williams posted the letter with an adorable new photo of her daughter
Tennis superstar Serena Williams has written an open letter to her mother, Oracene Price, in which she writes movingly about learning to deal with harsh comments about her powerful body. In the emotional note, the athlete thanks her mother for leading by example while dealing with unfair criticism of her "strong, muscular, powerful, sensational" body. The pro tennis star writes her mom showed her how to be strong in a world filled with people "too ignorant to understand the power of a black woman." Ms Williams, a new mother to daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, posted the thank you note on Reddit on Tuesday.
In the heartfelt post, Ms Williams thanks her mother for being fiercely protective and admits she worries whether or not she'll be able to handle similar criticism of her own daughter.
"I was looking at my daughter (OMG, yes, I have a daughter) and she has my arms and legs! My exact same strong, muscular, powerful, sensational arms and body. I don't know how I would react if she has to go through what I've gone through since I was a 15 year old and even to this day," the tennis champion writes.
On Instagram, Serena Williams shared this sweet pic of daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr wearing a onesie that read 'Smart and strong like my mama'
"I've been called man because I appeared outwardly strong... It has been said I don't belong in Women's sports - that I belong in Men's - because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it)," she continues.
"But mom, 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," Ms Williams writes candidly.
"Thank you for being the role model I needed to endure all the hardships that I now regard as a challenges - ones that I enjoy," she adds.
Read Serena Williams' letter to her mother in its entirety below: Letter to my mom from u_serenawilliams
Ms Williams welcomed
Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, her daughter with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, on September 1. She shared the first photo of the adorable little girl on Instagram last week and posted a video of her pregnancy journey on YouTube. Barely a few weeks old, the little cutie already
has her own Instagram account. Click for more
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