Source: CraSH/imageSPACE / MEGA

There was a time when Serena Williams was dominating both tennis courts and headlines. As one of the most winning tennis stars in sports history, Serena is a force of nature. Yet she has found herself in the unusual position of having to defend her appearance. Again.

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Serena shared a video online of herself at an event for her daughter, and critics immediately latched onto her appearance with comments about her skin color. Serena denies that she has been bleaching her skin, clapping back at her haters in an Instagram live that went viral.

Source: MEGASerena Williams training in Perth, Australia, in 2015

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Serena Williams denies bleaching her skin, clapping back at her haters.

In December 2024, Serena shared a video of herself and her husband Alexis Ohanian with their daughters Olympia and Adira. In the video, Serena smiles and poses for the camera, brushing her hair out of her face. Critics immediately commented that her skin looked lighter in the video than usual and accused her of bleaching her skin.

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In an Instagram Live video, Serena immediately addressed the rumors. While she applied her own beauty brand, Wyn Beauty, Serena scoffed at the idea that she would bleach her skin. While applying product, she quipped, “And then I put just that neutral color, that is actually my skin color, and no, for you haters out there, I do not bleach my skin.”

She continued, “There is a thing called sunlight, and in that sunlight, you get different colors,”

Serena said she is proud of who she is, adding, “Yes, I’m calling you out on this because it is ridiculous.”

“Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, she bleached her skin.’ I’m a dark, Black woman, and I love who I am, and I love how I look.” Bleaching her skin, Serena said, is “just not my thing.”

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Serena is no stranger to people criticizing her appearance.

In a 2016 interview with The Guardian, Serena shared that she can’t win with some people. Her body is either “Too muscly and too masculine, and then a week later too racy and too sexy. So for me it was just really a big joke.”

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This time, she was “too pale.” Under the original video, one comment reads, “Bro!!! I almost didn’t recognize her.” Another, “Serena I’m going hold your hand when I tell you this.” One fan compared Serena to her famous sister Venus William, writing, “Meanwhile Venus melanin is popping.”

One confused fan wrote, “Is it me or has she gotten lighter [a]long with her hair!” To which another fan replied, “She has; looks like she bleached her skin.”

Serena seems unruffled by the comments, but had supportive words for people who do choose to bleach her skin. In the clapback Live, Serena said, “If people do it, that’s their thing, and they have every opportunity and they should. I don’t judge, but you guys do.”

She concluded, “But that’s what this world is about, and I stay in my lane — the non-judgy one, and I keep it. But no, I actually don’t bleach my skin, so can we just kinda clear that up?”

So that appears to be that.