Serena Williams reveals she’s taking weight loss medication: ‘I don’t take shortcuts’

There were other health considerations too, Williams said: Diabetes runs in her family, and African American adults have a higher risk of being diagnosed with it. She also hoped that losing weight would relieve pressure on her knees.

“I had a lot of issues with my knees, especially after I had my kid,” she said. “That, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career.”

On Thursday, she launched a campaign with Ro, a company that prescribes GLP-1 medications through telehealth, to normalize the use of weight loss drugs and combat the narrative that taking them is the “easy way out.” Her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is an investor in Ro and serves on its board.

Williams joins a growing list of celebrities who have publicly shared their use of weight loss medications, including Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, singer Meghan Trainor and basketball legend Charles Barkley, who is a Ro ambassador. Comedian Amy Schumer has said she tried Ozempic, but couldn’t tolerate the side effects.