what happens to a women who never had a close relationship with her dad

The Truth About Venus And Serena Williams' Relationship With Their Father

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On Nov 19, 2021, fans of tennis' reigning siblings will go an inside expect at the tragic real-life story of Venus and Serena Williams and learn more nearly the man who made them tennis superstars — dad Richard Williams — when a biopic based on their begetter's life, titled "King Richard," hits theaters and HBO Max. These days, Venus' internet worth and Serena's bank business relationship rest are every bit impressive equally their history-making gameplay, but that wasn't ever the case. The sisters come from humble beginnings and that'southward the story they hope to tell as they executive produce "King Richard" with Volition Smith in the title role, per Variety. Although Smith'south casting has sparked colorism backfire, the picture'south first trailer is already generating plenty of positive buzz. Calling the flick "the origin story for some REAL Bargain superheroes," Smith enthused on Instagram that portraying the lawn tennis coach was "one of the greatest honors."

So who is the real Richard Williams? The Louisiana native grew upwards picking cotton before eventually moving to Chicago, then California, per Elle, which is where he started a family with Oracene Price. Once the couple had two daughters, Richard set to piece of work to brand them champions. If you're wondering how that impacted their bond, read on to discover the truth almost Venus and Serena Williams' relationship with their male parent.

Richard Williams had large dreams for Venus and Serena before they were born

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Richard Williams began preparation his daughters when they were 4 years old, only as he told CTV in 2014, he had big plans for Venus and Serena Williams long earlier that. Revealing that he penned a "78-page manifesto"before they were born in which he planned out his would-be daughters' tennis domination, he admitted, "A lot [of] people used to think I was crazy because I used to walk around with a sign, 'Number one girls in the world.'"

Why tennis? Every bit Richard recalled in his 2014 biography, "Blackness and White: The Way I Meet Information technology" (via Daily News), he was watching TV one Sunday when "a tennis lucifer caught my attention" — a moment that would modify his family unit forever.

"Actually, the friction match was over," he continued. "I will never forget standing there in anaesthesia, watching the tournament director present a 25-twelvemonth-old professional tennis actor from Romania named Virginia Ruzici a $40,000 cheque for winning the tournament." As he listened to the journalist quip, "That's non bad for four days' piece of work," Richard couldn't help but agree. "Without hesitation, I said to myself, 'I'm going to have two kids and put them in tennis,'" he wrote. Venus Ebony Starr Williams was born in 1980 and Serena Jameka Williams followed in 1981, and he was set. "I had my game and I had my girls. It was time to put them together," he ended.

Richard Williams wasn't afraid to literally fight for his daughters

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Richard Williams was convinced he'd turn his daughters into tennis superstars, but it wasn't going to be piece of cake. The young family unit settled in Compton, California, where local tennis coach Larry Ready told ESPN the sisters fabricated their tennis debut at such a young age that he'd run into them sitting courtside with "rackets sticking up out of their strollers" equally their parents played. One time they were sometime enough, Venus and Serena Williams played "three or four hours a day," simply non before their dad fought gangs off the courts. He was so committed that he didn't back down subsequently an altercation left him with several broken ribs and 10 missing teeth. "To this day, [I] wear my 'toothlessness' every bit a bluecoat of courage,'" Richard wrote in his biography, "Black and White: The Way I See It." He and so returned to face up off confronting a gang's leader — and won. "It had taken 2 years and almost destroyed my body and my spirit, but in that moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was the courts were ours," Richard reminisced.

The family played in Compton until 1991 before moving to Florida and, every bit Serena reflected, their dad's dedication changed everything. "It's inverse sports," she once mused (via NBC Sports). "It's changed history. Who would accept thought that he could accept raised two black girls to play a sport that African Americans haven't typically done well in? Every time I stand out at that place, I retrieve that I wouldn't be here if somebody didn't have that vision for me."

Richard Williams has no qualms about protecting his daughters from media

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Richard Williams has always had his daughters' backs and never was that more evident than in 1995 when the Williams patriarch shut downward an ABC News reporter who tried to question a xiv-year-old Venus Williams' self-confidence. In the prune, which recently resurfaced on Twitter, Venus, who would, as Sports Illustrated recounted, go on to become the first Black female player to accomplish "best player in the world" status in 2002, was asked if she idea she could win an upcoming friction match. "I know I can beat her [...] I'm very confident," she professed. And when the interviewer asked why she was able to "say information technology so easily," the budding superstar fired off, "Cause I believe it."

At that moment, Richard stepped in and said, "What she said, she said it with so much confidence the get-go fourth dimension, just y'all go along going on and on." Venus' dad pointed out that they were "dealing with [the] image of a fourteen-year-old child," earlier stating, "This child gonna be out there playing when your old a** and me gonna be in the grave." He went on to add, "You lot're dealing with a little Blackness kid, and let her be a kid. She simply answered you with a lot of confidence. Get out that lone!"

Richard likewise accused the press (via ESPN) of doing "the worst media job that they have done on any human in the world" when it comes to roofing his daughters.

The life-changing communication Richard Williams gave Venus and Serena

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Richard Williams didn't merely teach Venus and Serena Williams on the court; he passed on invaluable life lessons that would serve his daughters for years to come up. Offset, he instilled in his girls the greatest lesson his own female parent, Julia Mae Williams, taught him: "You got to exist crude, you've got to be tough, and you've got to be strong," he shared with CTV. He besides endorsed "a hierarchy of values" they'd never forget in which tennis wasn't their be-all and terminate-all, per The Guardian. As the outlet noted, Richard taught "God kickoff, family 2nd, pedagogy 3rd, business organisation fourth, and then only tennis — some style back in fifth place."

Serena likewise took her father's financial advice to heart. As she told Chase Chats (via People) in 2020, "My dad always said 'athletes lose their money'. He always talked near the importance of not losing it one time you lot get it and non just buying everything you lot meet. That has stuck with me for my whole life." She also said that she could've used even more guidance. "Honestly, I wish I had learned more about cyberbanking and how it works," she conceded. "I didn't learn that until way later and I really wish I would have learned that sooner then that I could have fabricated my money work for me in different ways sooner and probably better."

Richard Williams may heighten eyebrows but his daughters don't mind

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When Venus Williams won her first-ever Wimbledon title in 2000, she became the start Blackness female Wimbledon champion since Althea Gibson won ii back-to-dorsum tournaments in 1957 and 1958, per History. Perhaps the only person more than excited than her was her father, Richard Williams. During the game, Richard made headlines for holding up half dozen different signs, per Daily Press, including ones that read, "The British fans are the best in the globe" and "I need an ice-cold Coca-Cola." When his daughter won, he held up a board that proclaimed, "It's Venus' party and no-one'due south invited." The move raised eyebrows, equally did the fact that he allegedly shouted "Direct outta Compton!" before jumping over the NBC broadcasting booth, per The Guardian, to perform "a triumphant dance." Chris Evert, a onetime tennis player-turned-commentator claimed that the commentators in the booth "idea the roof was coming down," per Deadline.

Oprah Winfrey brought up the incident with Venus during a 2003 interview, asking, "Your begetter has received some criticism [...] are y'all always embarrassed by your dad?" She was adamant that "no — nothing embarrasses us," adding that her dad'south actions at Wimbledon were misinterpreted. "Information technology wasn't a dance — people just wrote that," she said.

"He jumped upwards and down. I'yard proud of my dad," Venus continued. "He is an unbelievable visionary — and I think Serena and I understood that even when nosotros were modest."

Serena Williams credits her dad equally the 'most important person' in her career

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Throughout the 2015 tennis season leading up to the U.Southward. Open, there was one person visibly missing from America'south biggest lawn tennis courts: Richard Williams. According to the New York Mail, health issues were to blame for his absence, as Richard was rushed to hospital that spring for an undisclosed reason and continued to heal (and watch his daughter play) at home in Florida.

Serena Williams felt his absence and she fabricated that clear on numerous occasions. When she won in Miami in April, she told reporters, per The Guardian, "I would like to dedicate this to my dad, he'southward not here. I miss him, I hope he's watching," she said, adding, "I love you daddy and this 1's for you lot." Then, at a postal service-match press conference in Baronial, she chosen him "the nearly of import person in my career" and shared, "I do miss my dad, plain. I try to accomplish out to him a lot. He still tells me things I'm not doing right." Jump to that September when she called him "probably the all-time coach ever" at a pre-Open printing conference (via ESPN), quipping, "If we talk about numbers, he'due south got a lot of [Slam titles] and he's only had two players. Imagine if he had three!"

As Serena told Oprah Winfrey in 2003, "Our father doesn't get plenty credit. He showed us how to serve — and nosotros have the biggest serves in women's tennis," she said, calculation, "He stayed up many nights watching films so he could teach united states."

When Richard Williams would not walk Serena down the aisle, she understood

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When Serena Williams said "I exercise" to reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian at New Orleans' Contemporary Arts Center in Nov 2017, there was i thing visibly missing from the ceremony. Or, rather, i person. Richard Williams was supposed to walk his girl down the alley only as she revealed in her 2018 HBO documentary, "Being Serena," he pulled out just one hour earlier the nuptials. "He was in New Orleans, he had a suit, and I know he was really excited," she recalled (via People). "But then he wrote me [a text] and said: 'Serena, I don't want you to exist mad at me, but I just can't walk you downwardly the aisle. I'yard not myself anymore. I'm but too nervous.'"

She understood why he wouldn't walk with her. Noting that "maybe a lot of daughters wouldn't react the aforementioned way," Serena best-selling "the struggles he's had" over the years. "His health is better now, but I know he still doesn't feel like himself, doesn't feel like he's perfect," she said. "And if he doesn't want to exist upward there in forepart of a lot of people, I completely understand."

Per the doc, she texted back, "Daddy, it's okay, if yous don't want to come to the hymeneals at all, that'due south okay too. I'grand not going to be upset with yous about it, and so I don't desire yous to exist upset about information technology." She concluded, "Our family knows what we have. Nosotros just want each other to exist happy. That'southward what matters."

Venus and Serena Williams' half-sister doesn't share the same bail with Richard

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Earlier Richard Williams married Oracene Price in 1980, he was married to Betty Johnson with whom he had v children. The eldest, Sabrina Williams, spoke with The Dominicus in 2020 and revealed that while Venus and Serena may have a tight relationship with their begetter, she doesn't share the aforementioned bail.

Accusing Richard of existence "a serial cheat" and "selfish man" who "just uses his kids to get what he needs," she slammed, "He's non a dad, he was just a sperm donor. He had five kids, and left them to my mom to grow up in poverty, and never once helped." She said that her early childhood was "fantastic," simply then her parents began fighting and, when she was eight, "my dad left and said he was getting a bike for me and that's the last I saw of him."

Recalling how "within a year, we became very poor," Sabrina told the outlet she eventually "got hold of my dad through a relative and asked for $1,000 to pay some of the higher bill at Hope Christian University." According to Sabrina, he offered it equally a loan. "That's when I knew he was an a******," she said, noting that she "was done" with him after that. She besides said she's been told he has "between 15 and xix [kids] all over the place."

Richard Williams is still coaching, despite health problems

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Richard Williams tin can't stay away from tennis, despite reportedly being in poor wellness. In 2016, he suffered two strokes, which it was afterward revealed had a major impact on his day-to-day life. As Richard's divorce proceedings with Lakeisha Williams grew nastier in 2020, his doc told a court, per The Sun, that he suffered harm to his brain tissue and "the complications after the stroke included disability to recall things," as well as weakened muscles and "problems speaking and finding the right word to utilise." While the doctor conceded that Richard eventually "recovered from issues forming your words," they stressed that their patient had non "recovered from what is called dementia."

Despite these serious problems, it seems Richard isn't able to resist coaching his daughters. In July 2021, Venus Williams posted a video to Instagram showing her practicing on a courtroom with her dad standing past her, giving advice. As one Twitter user commented, "The coaching legend is still at it" and Venus confirmed just that herself when she responded to a comment praising Richard for being "nevertheless at it xxx+ years later" by writing "Every practice!" She also responded to a 2nd fan who wrote, "Love that he still trains with Vee" with a elementary "E'er!"

Just don't wait him to go like shooting fish in a barrel on his girls. When a reporter asked about Serena's chances of winning Wimbledon back in 2012, Richard said they "were great," but couldn't resist adding, "I remember she needs to make a few minor adjustments."

Richard Williams couldn't be prouder of his superstar daughters

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Unsurprisingly, Serena and Venus Williams' dad is a big fan of his legendary kids. "He always tells me I'yard so good and he's so proud of me and he can't imagine how good I am," Serena once said of Richard Williams (via NBC Sports), calculation, "He e'er says, 'Don't put force per unit area on yourself. Be happy with what you have.'"

That's exactly what he did before Wimbledon 2012. Serena had been incapacitated for virtually 12 months before returning to the sport in mid-2011. In July 2010, she cut a tendon in her right foot in a freak accident after stepping on broken drinking glass, per The states Today. In March 2011, she was, equally she told The Guardian, "on my deathbed at 1 betoken — quite literally" after doctors found "several blood clots in both lungs."

Then, "only as Serena started to recover, she got an infection in her stomach and had to have a drain tube put in to assistance her heal," Richard recalled in his 2014 biography, "Blackness and White: The Way I Encounter It." And and so, he felt broken-hearted about Wimbledon and told her "to forget almost winning the tournament or losing the tournament." Instead, he joked, "You lot go out at that place and you put your best foot forward. Not the one you cut up — put the other foot forward." Serena won and Richard felt "pride beyond mensurate" every bit "tears coursed freely down my cheeks and I didn't intendance who saw them." At that place's a lot of love in the Williams family unit — and no, we don't mean a goose egg.

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Source: https://www.nickiswift.com/484197/the-truth-about-venus-and-serena-williams-relationship-with-their-father/

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