Serena Williams models swimsuit with slippers after weight loss medication backlash: ‘I’m perfectly me’

Serena Williams once again modeled a swimsuit following backlash over her use of weight loss medication, Ro.

The tennis champion was pictured via Instagram wearing an olive green one-piece swimsuit while posing outdoors.

She layered the summer look with a fuzzy pink robe and a pair of Ugg slippers while casually posing in three snapshots, opting for a soft glam with pink lips.

“I am not perfect….but I’m perfectly me,” she captioned the upload on Friday. “Take out time today to celebrate being perfectly you! 💋”

Fans took to the comments thread with supportive comments.

“Wow! You are an amazing woman Serena 😍😍😍❤️” one person gushed, while another wrote, “Great post Serena, hope your [sic] feeling good”

A third raved, “We love you Serena! Champion! Legacy! Bold! Trendsetter! Mother! 🔥🔥🔥🔥” while a fourth remarked, “Well said! Be You ❤️”

Still others were unsure of the athlete’s slimmed down look. “Noooooo I miss the old Serena…..” one person confessed.

Williams, 44, previously showed off her weight transformation in a yellow cutout swimsuit back in August.

That same month, she faced fan backlash after a joint video with GLP-1 medicine company Ro showed her seemingly injecting herself with the weekly medication — which she claimed she “needed” after welcoming two daughters with husband Alexis Ohanian in 2019 and 2023.

“As an athlete and an influencer, it’s a shame that you’re reiterating the narrative that you need to take medication to be healthy and achieve an acceptable standard of beauty. This video made me really sad and disappointed,” one Instagram user wrote at the time.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist confessed to achieving a 30-pound weight loss on the medication in an interview with People.

“I feel really good and healthy,” she told the outlet last summer. “I feel light physically and light mentally.”

“I did a lot of research on it,” she shared of the decision, noting that she’d struggled to “get back to where I needed to get to,” despite diet and exercise efforts .

“I was like, ‘Is this a shortcut? What are the benefits? What are not the benefits?’ I really wanted to dive into it before I just did it.”

Now, she said, she’s feeling her best again. “I just can do more. I’m more active,” she told the outlet. “My joints don’t hurt as much. I just feel like something as simple as just getting down is a lot easier for me. And I do it a lot faster.”

She also cited an increase in energy and said she feels “pretty good about it.”