“I don't know anyone else that could handle anything on such a global scale.”
Serena Williams Says She Knows That Oprah Interview Wasn’t Easy for Meghan Markle
Serena Williams is continuing to show her support for Meghan Markle in the wake of the duchess's tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Shortly after Markle's buzzed-about chat—in which she outlined the struggles she experienced behind the scenes with the royal family and British press—Williams released a statement of support on Instagram. Now, in a new conversation with Stuart Weitzman's “Shine Series” (she's the global spokeswoman for the brand), Williams opens up about why she decided to speak out.
“Meghan is a great person and I think the epitome of strength, the epitome of confidence, the epitome of just selflessness, and the epitome of everything is just her and everything that she's gone through,” Williams told Behnaz Ghahramani, Stuart Weitzman's chief marketing officer.
The tennis champ continued, “And I know it's not easy, and you can see from the interview that it wasn't easy. But she had so much poise and she still had so much class.”
Serena Williams added that Meghan Markle is the “strongest person” she knows.
“I don't know anyone else that could handle anything on such a global scale the way that she's had to handle things that are just untrue—minute after minute. Not even day after day. Just minute after minute, another untrue allegation being thrown at her,” she said. “I think it was important for me to say something because I'm tired of sitting back and seeing all this negativity that's just not true.”
In her original Instagram statement, Williams said of Markle, “She teaches me every day what it means to be truly noble. Her words illustrate the pain and cruelty she’s experienced. I know firsthand the sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of color to minimize us, to break us down, and demonize us. We must recognize our obligation to decry malicious, unfounded gossip and tabloid journalism. The mental health and consequences of systemic oppression and victimization are devastating, isolating, and all too often lethal.”
Watch Williams talk about Markle in the Stuart Weitzman video, above, starting around the 20:35 mark.
This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Christopher Rosa
