Serena Williams Opens Up About Overcoming Body Issues: 'You Have to Love You'

The FADER

The 35-year-old tennis champion isn't paying attention to the haters.

Serena Williams is in a very good place.

The 35-year-old tennis champion is giving us all sorts of body goals on the cover of The Fader's November issue. Looking fierce in an orange tank top and white bikini bottom, Williams tells the magazine she’s all about loving herself and avoiding all the haters.


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"People have been talking about my body for a really long time. Good things, great things, negative things," she explains. "People are entitled to have their opinions, but what matters most is how I feel about me, because that's what's going to permeate the room I'm sitting in."

"It's going to make you feel that I have confidence in myself whether you like me or not, or you like the way I look or not, if I do," she adds. "That's the message I try to tell other women and in particular young girls. You have to love you, and if you don't love you no one else will. And if you do love you, people will see that and they'll love you too."


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Earlier this year, the tennis star opened up to the U.K.'s The Times magazine about finding inner peace, despite always feeling like she didn’t fit in.

"I know I get flack for my physique, and it has been a struggle to love my body, but now curves are in and I'm happier in myself," she told the publication in January. "When I was younger, it was hard seeing all these thin athletes when I had more muscular curves and was big-busted."

And while it's been a long struggle for Williams, she's now all about embracing her body and isn't afraid to show off her curves on social media.  

Watch the video below to see a young Serena tell ET the three secrets to being a winner.