'I want her to know that being strong is never easy. Not in this world we are living in.'
'Like other goddesses -- Athena, Artemis, Oprah -- she only needs one name,' writes Allure mag, as they unveil their latest cover girl, Serena Williams.
In the cover story, the tennis champ has opened her home and her heart to writer Ashley C. Ford.
'Venus and I started out being successful, continued to be successful, and we were also unapologetically ourselves,' she revealed in the interview.
'We were not afraid to wear braids. We weren’t afraid to be black in tennis. And that was different.'
Looking stunning in a brown figure-hugging knit dress, Serena cuts an impressive figure on the cover, looking fit and fabulous.
But it was not an easy feat to achieve. She says,'I'm feeling pretty good about my body. I worked hard at it in the past eight months to get back from the baby. It hasn't been easy.
'I'm not 21 anymore. But I did it slow and steady.
'After I came out (of the hospital), I had a stomach, but I thought, 'This is kind of cool. I have a stomach because the baby was there.'
Talking about the beautiful teachings she'll pass on to her daughter, Olympia, she added, 'I think my mom instilled in us to be confident women, to really believe in ourselves, be proud of our heritage, our hair, and our bodies.
'That was something that was really important for her to teach us. I'm definitely teaching it to my daughter.
'When I tell her she's beautiful, I want to teach her that she's beautiful from the inside.
'Giving is beauty. Being kind and humble is the ultimate beauty.
'I want her to know that being strong is never easy. Not in this world we are living in....
'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.'
