Many new mothers will soon feel pressure to bounce back to the baby’s body after giving birth – even including Williams.
After the tennis superstar greeted her first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., last September, she began to understand some of the physical insecurity she handled.
In an interview with Time magazine recently, she revealed that she used a “waist trainer” to make her look slimmer on Instagram after giving birth.
She said that this is the decision she regrets now.
“I hate being a victim,” she told the magazine. “It puts a lot of pressure on women, young and old.”
Williams, 36, has been frank with her post-pregnancy journey, whether it is dealing with body image problems, whether there are a series of health complications after childbirth, or the decision to stop breastfeeding.
She told the times that she decided to stop nursing Olympia after eight months because she wanted to get her body back to optimal exercise.
“I looked at Olympia, I am like, ‘Listen, Mom needs to get her body back, so Mom wants to stop now,'” she said. “We had a very good conversation. We said it.”
Williams also opened up the discrimination she has faced over the years because of her natural stature. She had to deal with some cruel remarks about her body, and she also thought that her drug tests were more than many of her companions, because if they didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs, people wouldn’t believe she would become strong.