Serena Williams opens up about her post-natal depression battle: "People have to talk about it more"
Tennis star Serena Williams has opened up about her battle with post-natal depression and admitted that her struggle “to be perfect” for her baby daughter drove her to tears.
In a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the 36-year-old confessed that she has struggled with her mood after giving birth to her daughter Olympia.
Serena said: “Honestly, sometimes I think I still have to deal with it. I think people have to talk about it more because it's almost like the fourth trimester, it's part of the pregnancy.”
She added, “I remember one day, I couldn't find Olympia's bottle and I got so upset I started crying ... because I wanted to be perfect for her.”
Serena revealed that she almost died when she was delivering her and her husband, Alexis Ohanian’s, daughter.
The famous athlete had to undergo an emergency caesarean section but had life-threatening complications, which then resulted in surgery to prevent blood clots travelling to her lungs.
She previously said: “One minute, everything's going according to plan, and then I'm being wheeled off for surgery. I was terrified, and it was a whole new kind of fear.”
Her husband and Reddit co-founder, Alexis, added: “The C-section was low on our wish-list because of her history with blood clots.
"Any surgery that Serena has is potentially life-threatening. But we decided, ‘Well, OK, for the safety of mom, for the safety of the baby, we have to proceed with a C-section’.”
Despite the life-threatening health scares, Serena said that her daughter is the reason “why all this means even more than it did before”.
“For so many years, I defined myself in just one way: by success, by championships, by making history. And then, all of the sudden, my life changed forever,” she said.
“It wasn't part of any plan to have this happen, not while I was still on top.
“But two years ago, I met this man, almost out of nowhere. We fell in love, and then, this unthinkable surprise. I can't believe how much went wrong on my way to meeting her. I almost died...
“But now, she's the reason why this all means even more than it did before. Still, there's no escaping the fear. The fear that I might not come back as strong as I was.
“The fear that I can't be both the best mother and the best tennis player in the world. I guess my only choice is to live and find out.”