Why Serena Williams Swears by a Plant-Based Lifestyle

Serena Williams didn’t set out to become a plant-based advocate. It started as something she did for someone else, and only later became a belief she held for herself.

It Began as an Act of Solidarity, Not a Personal Choice

In 2011, Williams’s sister Venus was diagnosed with Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune condition that left her dealing with chronic fatigue and joint pain. Venus changed her own diet in response, and since the sisters were living together at the time, Serena found herself surrounded by it daily.

“I remember thinking, ‘I can’t bring all this bad food into the house,’ so I changed my diet as well,” she’s said. The shift wasn’t planned around her own health at all, it was simply about not undermining what Venus was trying to do.

Her Body Answered the Question Before Her Mind Did

Williams has said she expected to feel some kind of loss once animal products left her diet, whether that was reduced strength or missing nutrients. That’s not what happened.

“I realized that I didn’t feel weaker, I didn’t feel like my body was missing something, and I actually had a lot of energy,” she’s said. That result is what turned a supportive gesture into something she kept doing on her own terms.

A Documentary Turned Solidarity Into Something Bigger

Beyond how it made her feel physically, Williams has pointed to a specific documentary as reshaping how she thought about the diet altogether. She’s said Forks Over Knives “really opened my eyes to the impact that animal agriculture has on our planet.”

That shift added an environmental dimension to a decision that started purely as family support. She’s also directly credited the diet with athletic benefits, saying it “gives you a lot of energy and it’s also really good for your joints.”

She’s Honest That It’s Not All or Nothing

Despite years of public advocacy, Williams has never claimed to be a strict, unwavering vegan. She’s acknowledged relapsing into non-plant-based foods and describes her actual approach as mostly plant-based rather than absolute.

“I’m not 100% plant-based, but I’ve watched a lot of these documentaries, and they talk about how if everyone cuts back a day or a week, or maybe two days a week, what a difference it can make,” she’s said. That framing treats partial effort as genuinely worthwhile, not a failure to hit some stricter standard.

The Approach Shifts With the Tennis Calendar

Williams’s plant-based eating isn’t static throughout the year. She tends to follow a stricter, often raw, version of the diet during active tennis season, loosening up with more flexibility during the off-season.

That seasonal rhythm suggests the diet functions for her as a performance tool as much as a belief system. It flexes around what her body actually needs at a given point in her schedule, rather than following one fixed rule year-round.

She’s Put Her Money Behind the Belief Too

Williams has gone beyond simply eating plant-based, becoming an investor in Eat Just Inc., the company behind JUST Egg, and later the face of one of its ad campaigns. “I saw JUST Egg pop up a while ago and I thought it was super sustainable,” she’s said, describing her initial skepticism before trying the product herself.

That business investment reflects a belief that’s outgrown its original purpose. What started as a way to support her sister has become something she’s willing to financially back as a cause she thinks is worth building on.

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