HBO docuseries ‘Being Serena’ reveals off-the-court chronological timeline of Serena Williams
The new HBO series 'Being Serena' will document the series of events in a chronological order of iconic Serena Williams, it will capture the perosonal and professional life of her.
The docuseries is produced by HBO Sports and IMG’s Original Content group. It will depict Serena's journey while she was pregnant, motherhood, marriage and her journey back to supremacy on the court. The series will shown in first-person show and it will venture into her career, family life.
In January 2017, Serena Williams had a dream that she was pregnant. She woke up, took a pregnancy test, and discovered that it was positive. She then went out onto the tennis court in Melbourne, Australia, and won her 23rd Grand Slam — against her sister, Venus. The premiere took place yesterday, where at the beginning of Being Serena documentary series, Serena narrated this story. The series has five episodes which will give a detail picture of Serena's life.
The idea of docuseries, arouse at a dinner table conversation between Serena Williams and her good friend Beyonce. Beyonce's series Is But a Dream—the 2013 HBO film also showed the life of mega-star.
The episode 1 of Being Serena, titled "Fear," shows the period of Serena's pregnancy, the pregnancy didn't had any complications. She and her then-fiancé, now husband, Reddit co-creator Alexis Ohanian decorated the room with Serena's newest trophy in a spot of honor. "I wanted her to see the Australian Open trophy, because she should know that having her in my body didn't stop me from succeeding — from winning," Williams explains.
Serena's was seen working out 35 days before her due date. Serena's trainer said, "Your shirt's gonna pop up with this one! I know, my shirt's too small!"
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The episode shows the time before the baby arrived. "I'm not someone who takes their health for granted," Williams says. "With as many issues and scares as I've had — embolisms, hematomas, blood clots — I think I've learned pretty well how to listen to my body."
Moreover, Serena has suffered from blood clots before — in fact, back in 2011, she had a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. According to The Guardian. "At first people said it would be fine, it would be all right, but it turned out to be a lot more serious," she said in the interview with the paper. "If it had been left two days later, it could have been career-ending — or even worse." So her trepidation is understandable.
She further continues in the documentary, "Fear has always been valuable in my life. Without fear, without doubt, without discomfort in what we're doing, what is there for any of us to overcome?"
First published: 3 May 2018, 13:42 IST