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Serena Williams Announces She's Taking A Weight Loss Drug

Originally posted on The Spun | By Tzvi Machlin | Last updated Aug 21, 2025 11:17 AM ET

It's been several years since tennis icon Serena Williams announced her departure from the game. But she's doing her best to stay in great physical shape and is getting a little help from a popular weight-loss drug.

In a recent interview with The TODAY Show and later Vogue, Williams revealed that she has been taking the GLP-1 medication Zepbound to augment her recent efforts to stay in shape. Williams explained that despite constant workouts, it wasn't until she took the antidiabetic medication that she started to see the results she was looking for.

"I was on and off (the medication) and now completely on," Williams said. "It was a really good decision I had to make for my life, you know, I tried everything."

Williams explained that in the aftermath of her first child being born, she took on a lot of weight and exercised extensively to get back into playing shape. But it only got harder after her second child was born in 2023 and she no longer had pro tennis in her life.

"This all started after I had my (first) kid," she explained. "As a woman, you go through different cycles in your life. ... No matter what I did — running, walking, I would walk for hours because they say that's good, I literally was playing a professional sport — and I could never go back to where I needed to be for my health. Then, after my second kid, it just even got harder. So then I was like, OK, I have to try something different."

Popularity

Weight-loss drugs have become more popular than ever thanks in large part to their boosted effectiveness in recent years. But Williams doesn't see the drug as a "shortcut" and says that she abhors taking shortcuts.

"A misconception is that it's a shortcut," she said. "As an athlete and as someone that has done everything, I just couldn't get my weight to where I needed to be at a healthy place − and believe me, I don't take shortcuts."

"I had a lot of knee issues. Especially after I had my kid (and) was never able to get to my normal levels of weight. And that, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career."

Side effects?

Williams was especially happy with her current medication, declaring that she hasn't even experienced the notoriously bad side-effects either.

The known side-effects of Tirzepatide-based medications like Zepbound are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite, constipation, upper abdominal discomfort, and abdominal pain, among others.

"I put my body through a lot... I understand that there are lots of side effects, I just didn't have any," she said.

If Williams is happy with her medication and the effects they're having on her body, then good for her. We wish her the best.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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