Just because Serena Williams is laying low for a few months doesn’t mean she’s not busy at work.
The tennis star and real-life Wonder Woman, graces the August 2017 issue of Vanity Fair. In the cover story, shot by renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz, the mother-to-be dished about her relationship with tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and what it felt like when she discovered she was pregnant nearly six months ago. After taking several pregnancy tests, at the request of a close friend, she explained to VF that the news was definitely unexpected.
“Oh my God this can’t be—I’ve got to play a tournament,” she said to Buzz Bissinger about her initial shock. “How am I going to play the Australian Open?’” she thought. “I had planned on winning Wimbledon (her third straight) this year.”
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In the interview Williams also takes us through a deep dive of her relationship with Ohanian, who she began dating in 2015. The couple’s love story began in with Williams assuming Ohanian was actually another stalker. After Williams played in a tournament, Ohanian — one of the co-founders of Reddit and an earlier attendee — hopped a ride in Williams’ van along with her agent, Jill Smoller.
“I see this super-tall guy get in our [van], and I was like, ‘Oh my God, Jill. Tell me what’s wrong. Do I have another stalker? Why is Rome sending personal security with me. . . . And she’s like, ‘No, that’s Alexis.’ I remembered his name because it was a unique name. I was like, ‘Oh, I remember.’”
Now, the two are inseparable. In an interview with Today Parents, the father-to-be talked about how he’s preparing for the new baby by crowdsourcing tips from Reddit. "My favorite [tip] is to sleep with a blanket for like a month before the due date so you get your dad scent all over it, and then wrap the baby in it once it shows up, so they're not just immediately bonding with mom, but also getting a bit of dad."
At first glance, it’s hard not to think of another iconic cover: Demi Moore posing nude and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991. At the time, the image which was also shot by Leibovitz, was unlike anything we'd seen before. The idea of a woman posing nude and pregnant was deemed more risqué than beautiful. In some cases, her cover was described as “grotesque and obscene.” Thankfully times have changed.
Check out the rest of William’ stunning cover spread here.