Serena Williams calls Meghan Markle the ‘strongest person I know’ after Oprah interview

Tennis star says Duchess of Sussex ‘had so much poise and she still had so much class’ during interview with Oprah

Serena Williams calls Meghan Markle the ‘strongest person I know’ (Getty)

Serena Williams has praised Meghan Markle as the “epitome of strength” after the Duchess of Sussex’s recent tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The tennis pro, a long-time friend of Meghan, opened up about their relationship and described the duchess as the “strongest person I know” during the first episode of the Stuart Weitzman Shine Series on Wednesday, where she spoke with the brand’s chief marketing officer, Behnaz Ghahramani.

“Meghan is a great person and I think the epitome of strength, the epitome of confidence, the epitome of selflessness and the epitome of everything is just her and everything that she’s gone through,” Williams said.

“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,” the 23-time Grand Slam winner continued, referring to the conversation with Winfrey in which the duchess revealed that she experienced mental health struggles during her and her husband Prince Harry’s time as senior members of the royal family.

Williams then praised Meghan’s strength while reflecting on her friend’s ability to handle “things that are just untrue”.

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“I just think that she is the strongest person I know. I don’t know anyone else that could handle everything on such a global scale the way that she’s had to handle things that are just untrue, minute after minute,” the tennis player said. “Not even day after day, just minute after minute, another untrue allegation being thrown at her.”

According to the 39-year-old, she felt it was important to speak out in support of Meghan, which she did in a powerful statement released the day after the interview aired in the US, because she is “tired of sitting back and seeing all this negativity that’s just not true”.

In Williams’ statement, which she shared to her social media accounts, she referred to Meghan as her “selfless friend,” before stating that the duchess “teaches me every day what it means to be truly noble”.

As well as opening up about her mental health struggles, Meghan also told Oprah that she had experienced racism during her time with Prince Harry – most notably that her child’s skin tone had been discussed by a member of The Firm.

The athlete also acknowledged her own experiences with the “sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of colour to minimise us,” as well as the importance of mental health and respect.

“I want Meghan’s daughter, my daughter, and your daughter to live in a society that is driven by respect,” she wrote in the statement, referring to her daughter Olympia, who she shares with husband Alexis Ohanian, and Meghan’s unborn daughter.

Elsewhere in the YouTube video, Williams reiterated the importance of women supporting women, with the tennis star using her own experiences as an athlete as an example.

“I compete against women all the time. We can go tooth and nail, but it doesn’t mean that we have anything against each other,” she said. “I actually support you and I want the best for you.”