The love story between the golden girl of the sports industry and the technology businessman is considered a real-life fairy tale. Especially after getting married and welcoming his first daughter, Alexis Ohanian is still a sweet gentleman with countless displays of affection for his wife. From renting four billboards on the street that read “GMOAT” (short for “Greatest Mother of All Time”) to suddenly taking Serena to Italy just because she idly said she craved country food.
After giving birth, Serena and her husband were quite open when sharing pictures and information about their daughter Olympia with the public. But the most surprising thing is that recently, the “queen of tennis” confirmed that there will not be any celebration parties on September 1, the day Olympia turns 1 year old. Even for Westerners, a child’s first birthday has many special meanings.
Many people suspect that Serena is having many psychological difficulties. Because recently, she often shared on Instagram her feeling of failure when she did not do a good job as a mother. The top female tennis player in the soccer industry also failed to maintain her form on the court, many times slipping out of reach of the gold cup. This can be a pressure for a perfectionist and ambitious woman like Serena.
Before that, both Serena and William were not mentally prepared to welcome a child, as the couple both had their own plans at work. The athlete even almost died after giving birth to her daughter. “My pregnancy wasn’t without much trouble. But my daughter went into a state of alarm during the cesarean section, because her heart rate dropped during labor. Only when I saw Olympia lying in my arms did I realize the surgery had gone smoothly. It was the best feeling of my life. But 24 hours later, my life was threatened for six days ,” Serena said.
In response to the uproar, Serena spoke up about why she did not celebrate her daughter’s birthday: “We are Jehovah’s Witnesses so we don’t do that.” Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religion whose beliefs are based on the Christian Bible. And according to this religion, celebrating birthdays, Christmas, Easter and other holidays is an act that does not please God. Birthdays also have pagan origins, and the Bible “condemns the use of magic, fortune telling” or “anything like that.”
In an interview with Vogue last year, Serena said religion has special meaning to her. “Even though Alexis doesn’t go to any church, he understands what I’m after and puts it first,” Serena added. This is the reason why Alexis respects his wife’s decision not to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. And this does not mean that both of them do not love Olympia.