Serena Williams promoting GLP-1 weight loss treatment in Ro campaign, holding injector pen against her arm while wearing a white crop top.

Serena Williams, Ozempic & the Family Business Behind the Hype

Serena Williams just stepped onto a new court — not Wimbledon, not the US Open, but the glossy world of GLP-1 weight-loss campaigns. In an exclusive TODAY Show interview, she revealed she’s been on medication, dropped 31 pounds, and now fronts a multi-year partnership with Ro, a U.S. telehealth company that prescribes GLP-1 drugs for weight loss (and conveniently, one her husband happens to invest in). Cue the headlines, cue the applause, cue the Instagram debates.
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Serena told TODAY:
“I just feel normal again.”
“I tried everything … I literally was playing a professional sport … and I could never go back to where I needed to be for my health.”
“Is it a lazy way? Is it a shortcut? … As an athlete … believe me, I don’t take shortcuts.”

She doubled down in Ro’s official advertising, admitting:
“I was doing everything right … but my body wasn’t responding the way it used to.”

According to Ro:
“Serena knows people may be surprised to learn that she would use a GLP-1, and that’s exactly why we think she is the perfect person to share her story.” — Ro spokesperson

And yes, the fine print matters:
“Ro said Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian tech billionaire and co-founder of Reddit, is an investor in the company and serves on its board.” — Reuters
Source

And look — Serena has every right to choose what works for her. Bodily autonomy isn’t up for debate. But here’s where it gets sticky: when one of the most disciplined athletes on the planet says, “I tried everything and nothing worked until I jabbed myself with this drug,” the cultural message isn’t personal anymore. It’s mass marketing, and it risks telling every woman alive that discipline, clean eating, 20,000 steps a day, even professional sport… still aren’t enough. Unless, of course, you medicate yourself smaller.

Video Credit: Courtesy of TODAY / NBC News

The Conflict of Interest Nobody Wants to Talk About

This isn’t a neutral confession. Serena is a paid spokesperson for Ro, the very company selling the medication. Her husband sits on their board. Neutral? Not quite. When the cheques and brand campaigns are involved, we’ve officially left “personal health journey” territory and entered “polished pharma advertising” land.

This wasn’t just a casual rollout. According to The Guardian, the announcement had all the hallmarks of a coordinated media blitz: People magazine, Vogue, NBC’s Today, and Elle all dropped their Serena stories at the exact same time — pegged neatly to the US Open. This was strategy, not spontaneity. A multiyear campaign across billboards, digital platforms, and television ads has already been confirmed, with Serena telling viewers: “After kids, it’s the medicine my body needed.”

Did She Really Try Everything?

Serena’s story is framed around the idea that she “tried everything” — vegan, vegetarian, high-protein, pro-tennis training, daily steps — and her body just wouldn’t budge. But here’s the thing: “everything” didn’t include what actually matters most — her biology.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can have the discipline of a Grand Slam champion and still hit a wall if your biochemistry is broken. That’s not laziness. That’s biology.

If your genes, liver, or hormones are working against you, no treadmill or calorie-tracking app is going to override that. You weren’t “meant” to be overweight or chronically inflamed. You were meant to understand what your body can and can’t do with the inputs you give it.

This is why gene testing matters. Take MTHFR, for example. Roughly one-third of the population has this mutation — most don’t even know it exists. It clogs up methylation pathways, slows detox, raises homocysteine, and leaves you inflamed no matter how much spinach you pack into your green smoothie. Add a sluggish liver or gut dysbiosis on top, and you’re essentially training with the handbrake on.
Learn more about MTHFR

Enter MTHFR (The Gene Nobody Told You About)

In Australia, between 60–70% of people carry at least one MTHFR gene variant, and approximately 10% are homozygous or compound heterozygous. This gene plays a pivotal role in methylation and detox pathways — ritual-long high-intensity workouts or keto-only meals won’t clear this roadblock.

What it does:

Slows methylation (translation: your body struggles to recycle B vitamins and detox properly).
Raises homocysteine → inflammation city.
Bottlenecks liver detox pathways → sluggish metabolism, stubborn weight.
Disrupts hormones and neurotransmitters → fatigue, cravings, mood swings.

In short: your engine’s running, but the oil filter is blocked. You can walk, squat, juice, and meal-prep like a champion — but if your methylation pathways are jammed, you’re fighting with the handbrake on.

GLP-1s don’t fix that. They suppress appetite. They don’t unclog your liver or balance your hormones.
Read BioHax’s MTHFR breakdown

Beyond Genes: The Real Root Causes

MTHFR is just one example. Add in:

Candida overgrowth choking your gut lining.
Sluggish liver detox that can’t clear hormones or toxins.
Peri- and post-partum hormonal chaos that rewires metabolism after kids.

None of this is solved by an injection. These are functional medicine blind spots the glossy PR campaigns conveniently leave out.

So What’s the Real Play?

Before you line up for a script, get your body mapped properly. Genetic testing, gut panels, hormone profiles — the full deep dive. This isn’t fringe wellness, it’s baseline bio-intel. Once you know what’s happening under the hood, the path forward is tailored to you — not Serena, not your best friend, not the Ro marketing department.

And that’s where places like VitaHealth Clinic or our BioHax-approved functional medicine doctors and naturopaths come in. They don’t sell you shortcuts. They show you the map your body’s been hiding from you, so you stop flogging yourself in the gym for zero payoff.

Legal & Safety Blind Spots

This isn’t just about marketing spin — it’s about what isn’t being said.

Thousands of lawsuits are piling up against GLP-1 manufacturers. More than 2,000 cases have already been centralised in Pennsylvania, with plaintiffs alleging life-threatening side effects and inadequate safety warnings (IBTimes).
Complications include gastroparesis (stomach paralysis), intestinal blockages, gallbladder disease, persistent vomiting, and vision loss (Business Standard).
One Pennsylvania woman nearly died and required colon removal after severe complications, now living with a permanent ileostomy bag (People). Others have suffered permanent vision loss linked to GLP-1 drugs.
And here’s the kicker: FDA approvals were based on short-to-medium trials (30–104 weeks). There are no long-term human trials showing what happens after years or decades of weekly injections — especially in non-diabetic populations using them purely for weight loss (Wikipedia: Semaglutide).

The bottom line? These aren’t lifestyle accessories. They’re pharmaceuticals with unknown long-term safety profiles and a mounting trail of lawsuits.

The Cultural Fallout

Here’s the real damage: when the most disciplined body in the world says, “I couldn’t do it without drugs,” what hope does that give the rest of us? It normalises a pharma-first, test-never culture. It whispers to every woman that no matter how strong, fit, or resilient she is, her body will never be “enough” unless it’s smaller.

And the backlash proves it. Fans are split: some resigned (“if Serena needed it, what chance do we have?”), some furious that an icon who once resisted toxic beauty culture is now mainstreaming it, others shrugging that this is just more family brand business. For admirers, though, the shift is jarring: the woman who once redefined beauty and power for Black women now fronts an industry built on shrinking bodies.

BioHax is calling it out. You weren’t designed to be overweight, inflamed, or exhausted forever. You were designed to thrive — if you know what your biology needs. And that doesn’t come in a glossy Ro campaign. It comes from testing, not guessing.

BioHax Takeaway:

Want to know what your body’s really doing? Start with your genes. Book your genetic test through VitaHealth or one of our functional medicine clinics today — because your biology deserves more than a band-aid.

Claim your $100 BioHax Perk with VitaHealth Clinic — first consultation for gene testing
Book an appointment (in person, phone, or video) with BioHax-approved doctors and naturopaths