Serena Williams is revealing what made her relationship with now-husband Alexis Ohanian just click.
On the cover of Allure this month, the tennis superstar talked about her marriage to Ohanian, who she wed in November 2017 after dating since 2015.
Williams, 37, told the magazine she was focused on her career instead of finding love when she met Ohanian, 35.
“It just hadn’t happened, and I really didn’t think about it much,” she said. “I was so committed to my job, and to being the best and working the hardest, and I think I still am.”
Continued Williams, “Not to knock anyone else I was with before, because they were all mostly amazing, but I know now I can be selfish, have a great career, and a great partner, someone that believes in me.”
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Williams also revealed that Oprah Winfrey gave her relationship advice that helped inform her romance with Ohanian.
“Oprah said, ‘Never let anyone dim your light.’ That really stuck with me. Alexis doesn’t dim my light,” Williams told Allure. “He doesn’t try to dim my light. He puts me in the light, even if I don’t want to be. He pushes me to further points I never thought about.”
“It always was something that I could see in some relationships — my light would be dimmer. Now I feel like I can shine really bright and still do everything that I want to do.”
The couple has one daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., 15 months.
In the interview, Williams also opened up about parenting and teaching her daughter how to be strong.
“I want her [Alexis] to know that being strong is never easy. Not in this world we are living in,” she told Allure. “Standing up for yourself is not going to be easy, but it’s always eventually respected.”
“Those are the people who’ve made a difference in this world, people that stand up for what’s right. If you look at history, those are the people that you really remember. And at the time, oh, my God, it seemed impossible.”
Allure‘s Body + Mind issue is on national newsstands January 22.
