Serena Williams had an open discussion alongside her husband, Alexis Ohanian, about his decision to step down from the Reddit board to make room for a Black candidate.
During their IGTV chat, the married couple revealed that she actually had nothing to do with his decision.
“A lot of people might think I told you to do something, or I forced you — ” Serena shared. “He doesn’t listen to me, ever.”
Alexis confirmed that his exit has a lot to do with their daughter, Olympia.
“I thought about what I could do beyond a social media post, beyond a donation,” he said. “We need diversity at the highest levels of business now more than ever. Once I realized why I needed to do it, it became very easy.”
Alexis continued, “I thought about what those dollars could do for a community that has clearly suffered for far too long, and that I with my power and my influence and my privilege want to do something meaningful to start to show a change. To make a better world for Olympia.”
“One of the things that really broke me at some point in the last week, I was looking at Olympia, she’s 2½ now, and she is such a pure, just blank canvas,” he went on. “She only knows love. There is not an ounce of hate in her body…at some point, Olympia is going to have to have a talk with you, a talk with us, but especially a talk with you, about how she’s going to have to work that much harder, how she’s going to have to deal with this much more, that pisses me off.”
Alexis added, turning to Serena, “I’m sitting here like, if I’m this pissed off just now, how have you been able to endure your entire life? How have generations of black Americans been able to endure your entire life? Because If I’m just getting this mad right now, I wouldn’t be able to function.”
Serena shared how proud she was of Alexis for stepping down from his position just a few days ago.
Watch their open discussion below:
