Tennis great Serena Williams has shared her hopes for her unborn child in a moving new video, as she encourages the next generation to invest in themselves.
The clip, filmed for underwear company Berlei, sees Williams tell her bub everything she hopes for him or her, as she enters the final stages of pregnancy her.
In a New Zealand exclusive, Serena, who is engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, shares her thoughts around being pregnant, accidentally announcing she was expecting, and taking time to look after herself.
How has being pregnant changed you?
Being pregnant has definitely changed my priorities, obviously. I think baby is a big priority for me right now and I think for the rest of my life I definitely want the baby to have my full attention. I think it is going to be really important for me to look after myself still. Obviously when somebody else in your life that you carry for so long you just become attached.
Do you make time to nurture yourself?
I definitely take care of myself a lot more. Usually I work, work, work, work, and I still do, but, I definitely try to find time to try and take care of myself, to have Serena time. So in essence, I am taking care of the baby.
What has been the highlight of your pregnancy?
Watching the baby grow!
Williams accidentally announced her pregnancy on Sanpchat.
You accidentally announced the pregnancy via Snapchat, how did you find solace with so much media and public excitement and attention?
I was mortified when I accidentally announced it on Snapchat, but I knew I was already planning to announce it a few days later anyway so that helped calm me down. And at the end of the day I think it ended up being a really funny story so I wasn’t upset for too long.
If you had the time again would you take back the surprise announcement?
No! I think it reflects my personality really well – it was real and honest and just a great example of how I make mistakes just like everyone else.
How do you feel about putting yourself first?
I really think it is important to love yourself, and to take care of yourself first, while, looking out for the best interests of others at the same time. It doesn’t want to become something that’s super selfish, but sometimes in life you have to be selfish if it means your well-being and if it means you are taking care of yourself. There is a really fine line there.
How do you think prioritising yourself plays into that? Do you make yourself a priority?
I think it is really important to make yourself a priority. You can’t help other people if you are not in a good place inside or if you are not able to help yourself.
So, for me, one thing I love to do, I love charity and I love giving back and I love helping others but, I wouldn’t be able to do that if I wasn’t in a place mentally or physically or emotionally in a good place for myself to be able to offer that to other people. So, I think it is really important to be able to do that to other people.
