SERENA Williams has revealed she used fat jabs to shed pounds after giving birth to her two daughters.
The tennis star has spoken for the first time about her weight loss journey after using Ozempic-like drugs.
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Williams said she used GLP-1 medications to get slimmer after giving birth to her children.
In an interview with Vogue, the champion revealed she wanted to have an “honest conversation” about weight loss.
Williams told the magazine: “I’ve heard negative comments, along with a tremendous amount of positive comments, about my body my entire life.
“I don’t really care what people are saying about my body any more. But what is important to me is transparency.
“I’m the mom of two girls, and I wanted to be very honest about what I’m doing so they can always be the same with me and we can have an open relationship,” she continued.
She has now become the celebrity patient ambassador for Ro – the telehealth company behind the Zepbound weight loss jabs she used.
The tennis star opened up about her struggles with losing weight after pregnancy.
Williams, who gave birth to Olympia in 2017 and Adira in 2023,
She said: “It was so hard after I had [my first daughter] Olympia.
“I was literally on the court every day, doing nothing else.
“I had been the ultimate super-athlete, always in competition and being super-healthy my entire life, but I just could never get back to where I needed to be, no matter what I did.
“My whole life is being in the gym, working out, running, training, HIIT training, dancing, every single thing you can think of.
“I would always get to a certain point on the scale, but I could never get below that. That’s when I decided that it was time to try something different and got on the GLP-1 with Ro.”
Williams said that medication has made her feel “more like her old self”.
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
WEIGHT loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases.
Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK.
Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market.
Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight.
They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists.
They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients’ sugar levels are too high.
Can I get them?
NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics.
Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure.
GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss.
Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk.
Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health.
Are there any risks?
Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients’ mental health.
Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
She said: “I was putting in the work,” she said.
“I actually think it’s a problem a lot of other women can relate to, that you are in the gym and eating healthy, but just can’t get to the level you want or need to. I feel lighter mentally, I feel sexier, I feel more confident.”
Considered as one of the greatest players of modern tennis, Williams won the 2017 Australian Open while she was pregnant.
She is now campaigning for Ro, which sells Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy as part of its weight loss programme.
Weight loss jabs have been a godsend for people in the UK living with obesity.
But a mum shared how she finally got a toned stomach after having two C-sections, without using Ozempic or fad diets.
Bethanie Kendra, from the UK, revealed her top weight loss tricks and the one exercise that finally got rid of her lower stomach.
She shared before and after images of her stomach which was now toned and slender.
She said the first thing you had to do was lose weight, and she was able to shed 3.5 stone.
“The only way you can lose weight is a calorie deficit. You want to focus on nutrition and diet, nutrition and diet, nutrition and diet,” she explained
