When Serena Williams said “I do” to reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian at New Orleans’ Contemporary Arts Center in November 2017, there was one thing visibly missing from the ceremony. Or, rather, one person. Richard Williams was supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle but as she revealed in her 2018 HBO documentary, “Being Serena,” he pulled out just one hour before the nuptials. “He was in New Orleans, he had a suit, and I know he was really excited,” she recalled (via People). “But then he wrote me [a text] and said: ‘Serena, I don’t want you to be mad at me, but I just can’t walk you down the aisle. I’m not myself anymore. I’m just too nervous.’”
She understood why he wouldn’t walk with her. Noting that “maybe a lot of daughters wouldn’t react the same way,” Serena acknowledged “the struggles he’s had” over the years. “His health is better now, but I know he still doesn’t feel like himself, doesn’t feel like he’s perfect,” she said. “And if he doesn’t want to be up there in front of a lot of people, I completely understand.”
Per the doc, she texted back, “Daddy, it’s okay, if you don’t want to come to the wedding at all, that’s okay too. I’m not going to be upset with you about it, so I don’t want you to be upset about it.” She concluded, “Our family knows what we have. We just want each other to be happy. That’s what matters.”