One night before the Met Gala, she stepped out in a glittering red dress, and it was not the sequins that had fans doing a double-take.
She had spent years being judged for a body that did not fit the narrow mold of tennis glamour. Then came motherhood, weight struggles, and finally, a dramatic transformation.
But when the 23-time Grand Slam champion stepped out in New York City on Sunday evening, the conversation shifted again. This time, fans were not just talking about the dress.
She Was Judged Before She Was Fully Grown
Long before the sequins, the high slit, and the internet frenzy, Serena Williams had lived through years of public comments about her shape, her strength, and the body that helped make her a tennis legend.
For almost three decades, she dominated tennis with power, speed, and a body that never fit the narrow mold people expected from female athletes.
She was strong. She was muscular. She was curvy. And while that body helped carry her through a 27-year career, it also made her a constant target for commentary.
“It was hard because when I was playing in the beginning […] my body was different. I had big boobs; I had a big butt. Every athlete was like super flat, super thin, and beautiful, but in a different way. And I didn’t understand as an athlete how to deal with that.”
The criticism did not just bounce off her. “It does affect you mentally. Absolutely,” she continued. “You think you’re large for your whole life, and you look [back] and you’re like, ‘I was fit.’ Yeah, I had big muscles. I didn’t look like these other girls, but not everyone looks the same.”
Williams’ perspective changed when, at just 17, she won the Open for the first time. She made a decision that shaped how she handled public attention.
“I was so young, but I said I’m never going to read anything about me. At the Open, there was so much positivity, and I thought, I don’t want my head to get too big. I wanted to stay humble. I also thought, ‘If it’s negative, I don’t want to read it.’ I never really read an article after that.”
A Different Kind of Body Standard
Williams came up in an era when a very different kind of body was celebrated. The standard was thinner, longer, and lighter-looking — and she knew she did not match it.
“Venus looked more like what is really acceptable: she has incredibly long legs, she’s really, really thin. I didn’t see people on TV that looked like me, who were thick. There [was no] positive body image. It was a different age.”
Motherhood later changed how she saw herself. “How amazing that my body has been able to give me the career that I’ve had, and I’m really thankful for it. I only wish I had been thankful sooner,” she said.
She added, “It just all comes full circle when I look at my daughter.”
Motherhood Brought a New Fight
After giving birth to Alexis Olympia in September 2017, Williams saw her body shift in a way that even world-class training could not fully control. She wrote a raw message about seeing her own strength reflected in her baby girl.
“She has my arms and legs! My exact same strong, muscular, powerful, sensational arms and body,” she wrote. “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.”
Years later, after giving birth to Adira River in August 2023, she was again adjusting to a changing body. By February 2024, she was not hiding that process.
“Right now I love that my body is not picture perfect,” she stated on Instagram.
When Discipline Was Not Enough
For Williams, postpartum weight loss was not a simple matter of working harder. That was the frustrating part.
This was a champion who knew training, food, discipline, pain, recovery, and sacrifice. Still, after Olympia’s birth, the usual formula stopped giving her the result she wanted.
“I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be, no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” Williams shared. “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.”
The stall was maddening because effort had always been her answer. “I had never taken shortcuts in my career and always worked really hard. I know what it takes to be the best,” Williams said.
But this time, the effort was not giving her the result she wanted. “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.”
After Adira’s birth, the same wall appeared again. There was an early drop, then nothing. “I never lost another pound,” she recalled. “I just thought, gosh, I don’t know if I would ever be able to get back to where I needed to get to.”
The Medication Decision Was Not Casual
When all her usual methods failed, Williams decided to incorporate GLP-1 medication into her weight loss journey.
The choice came with baggage. By then, drugs connected to weight loss were already a hot celebrity topic, and Williams did not walk into it blindly.
“I did a lot of research on it. I was like, ‘Is this a shortcut? What are the benefits? What are not the benefits?’ I really wanted to dive into it before I just did it,” she said.
After she stopped breastfeeding in early 2024, she began weekly injections through Ro. The result was more than 31 pounds lost. Ro later framed her progress in strong terms.
“I’m on Ro because it works. I lost 34 lb in a year with GLP-1s. My blood sugar? The best it’s ever been. My joints? I’m moving better now. I’ve got more energy for my workouts and for my kids.”
She Wanted to Feel Better, Not Just Smaller
The change was not only visual. Williams had less pain, more energy, and an easier time moving through daily life. “I feel great,” she said. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally.”
The physical difference showed up in simple ways. “I feel like I have a lot of energy and it’s great. I just feel pretty good about it.”
“I just can do more. I’m more active. My joints don’t hurt as much. I just feel like something as simple as just getting down is a lot easier for me. And I do it a lot faster,” she explained.
Still, she did not turn her weight loss into a sermon about thinness.
“Weight loss should never really change your self image,” she said. “Women often experience judgment about their bodies at any size, and I’m no stranger to that. So I feel like you should love yourself at any size and any look.”
That point mattered because Williams had not described her earlier body as wrong.
“The size I was before, there was nothing wrong with it. It’s just not what I wanted to have,” she explained. “I just knew that I wanted to be where I personally felt comfortable.”
Then Came the Red Dress
That is why her latest appearance became more than a fashion moment. On Sunday evening, May 3, 2026, Williams arrived at a pre-Met Gala party in New York City wearing a red sequined dress with a high slit.
The look was glamorous, but risky. As she exited the car, the slit exposed her underwear. While walking, she appeared to tug at the fabric to cover her sensitive areas.
From behind, the dress showed a sizeable part of her bum and back. Then the internet did what it always does with Serena Williams.
“That thang thangin! I’m glad to see the weight back!! Looking good!! 👏🏽🔥🔥🔥 love the dress the hair , everything,” one fan wrote, while another one added, “I’m glad to see the weight back!!”
Another asked, “Is she picking up weight again?” One enthusiastic fan commented, “Her body looks great! The dress could’ve been tailored a bit better to fit her, but she is bangin!!”
Others were even more direct. “Hey thigh omg,” one person posted. “And people said she was too skinny 😂 I see muscular curves🔥,” another added.
One fan wrote, “She looks strong 👀.” Another focused on the outfit, not just her figure: “Wait! The weight came back?…the dress is nice, just not tailored correctly.”
On X, one person added, “She looks normal now. Remaining her complexion.”
After years of being called too muscular, too curvy, too postpartum, too slim, or too changed, Williams was once again at the center of a body debate.
For the athlete, it seems, there has never been a version of her body the world could simply leave alone. The only opinion that has ever really mattered, though, has been her own.
