Serena Williams, one of the most successful athletes of all time, has spoken out about using weight loss drugs – she says, to lift the “stigma” around using such medication.Will her outspoken comments instil a new sense of confidence in those using the drugs? And could her honesty quieten the critics?The 43-year-old tennis star, who broke records and won 23 grand slam titles through her career, was the embodiment of fitness and athletic prowess. But, after having kids, even she, like so many of us, has admitted to struggling to shift those extra pounds.In the end, Williams told the Today Show on TV in the US, that she had to look at her extra weight as “an opponent”. Despite “training five hours a day” and “running, walking, biking, stair climbing,” she couldn’t pulverise this adversary like she did to her opponents on the tennis court – so in the end, she says, she had no other choice but to “try something different”.Many of her friends were using GLP-1 – the group of medications which help with weight loss, so she decided to try it.Williams is adamant that the medication route – she won’t say which brand she is taking – wasn’t easy, and certainly not a shortcut to her losing 31lb (14kg) over the past eight months.There is scepticism about the timing of the tennis star’s recent transparency – she has just become a spokesperson for Ro, a company which sells GLP-1 brands like Wegovy and Zepbound (known as Mounjaro in the UK) through its weight-loss programme, and her husband is also an investor.Despite this and the potential side effects of taking the medication, her honesty will hit a nerve for many – she says she is speaking out to take away the sh …
