Serena Williams Shuts Down Skin Bleaching Rumors

Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty

Serena Williams has heard the rumors. She knows that people think she’s bleaching her skin and that she looks very different in recent pictures than she did some years ago. In a recent makeup tutorial, Williams made it plain that she’s not doing anything to change her skin color.

Williams, 43, was applying makeup during an Instagram Live. As she did she narrated her application of various products.

“I put just that neutral color, that is actually my skin color, and no, for you haters out there, I do not bleach my skin. There is a thing called sunlight, and in that sunlight, you get different colors.”

In today’s world of filters and face-tuning its often hard to see what complexion anyone is or what they look like naturally.  Although natural light can make for a different look, its not something that changes skin color completely. Its quite possible that Williams is simply not wearing a foundation that flatters her brown skin. She attributes the rumors to being photographed in heavy stage makeup while volunteering at her daughter’s school play.

“I’m calling you [her followers] out on it because it is ridiculous that everyone is like, ‘Oh, she bleaches her skin.’ I am a dark black woman, and I love who I am, and I love how I look,” she said. And that’s just not my thing, but if people do it, that’s their thing and they have every opportunity. I don’t judge. So, can we just kinda clear that up?”

Though Williams said that “sunlight” was the reason her complexion looked so different, a video of her and her husband in natural lighting still shows the Grand Slam champion looking much lighter than on the court in various stages in her career.

X users seeing the clip were almost unanimous in wondering about her seemingly changed appearance.

“What happened to her?” someone posted.

While only Williams knows what if any cosmetic procedures she’s had over the years, its not our place to question her. All we can do is admire her 23 Grand Slam titles and dominance during a two-decade tennis career. But, if you want more visuals for the debate, see a retrospective of her career below, where she often played in the sunlight.

See how social media is reacting to Williams shutting down the rumors below.

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