Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian’s daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. turns 1 on Sept. 1 but her superstar mother says they won’t be celebrating the big milestone.
Williams has confirmed she will not observe her daughter’s first birthday the traditional way due to her Jehovah’s Witness beliefs.
“Olympia doesn’t celebrate birthdays,” the tennis champion said in a press conference. “We’re Jehova’s Witnesses so we don’t do that.”
As noted by E! Online, Jehova’s Witnesses don’t celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter and other holidays because the religion believes “such celebrations displease God.” Birthdays also have pagan roots, and according to the religion, the Bible “condemns the use of magic, divination, spiritism, or ‘anything like this.’”
Serena explained to Vogue last year: ”Being a Jehovah’s Witness is important to me, but I’ve never really practiced it and have been wanting to get into it. Alexis didn’t grow up going to any church, but he’s really receptive and even takes the lead. He puts my needs first,” she said at the time.
Williams has been open about the joys and challenges of motherhood ever since ever since giving birth.
“Sometimes I get really down and feel like, ‘Man, I can’t do this,’” she told Vogue in her cover story where she posed with her daughter. She has posted photos on Instagram that describe the difficulties of being a new mom, including feeling like she “wasn’t a good mom.”
But the tennis pro says her bounceback game is stronger than ever. “I work just as hard, if not harder,” she said at a press conference before her U.S. Open match. “I have more fire in my belly.”
When Williams competed in Wimbledon this year, she dedicated the match to working moms, saying: ”For all the moms out there, I was playing for you today.”
Meanwhile, Serena is back on the court and she rocked a tutu at her U.S. Open comeback match, days after French Open officials criticized her now infamous sleek, black NIKE catsuit.
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