Venus and Serena Williams have withdrawn their support of a documentary that chronicles their life because they are displeased by the film’s depiction of their father, Richard Williams.
The sisters were expected to make a red carpet appearance this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the movie is being premiered. They had given unprecedented access to the filmmakers, ABC News veterans Maiken Baird and Michelle Major, to follow them around over the course of a year and shoot 450 hours of footage of their intimate lives for a documentary that charts their rise from Compton to the top of the tennis world. Called “Venus and Serena,” the film even followed the ladies into hospital rooms during their various medical issues.
But after watching the film, Venus in particular was unhappy over the way their father Richard is portrayed as a controlling figure. It also scrutinizes his personal life and the children he fathered out-of-wedlock.
After Venus consulted with the filmmakers, they apparently made some tweaks, but she was still unhappy with the result—though observers say the film is extremely complimentary to Venus and Serena.
Read more on that story here.
Putting the drama aside, Venus closed out New York Fashion Week with her latest collection for EleVen. Big names attending the event included Essence magazine’s editor Constance White and Olympic medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte.
See photos from the collection below:
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Venus EleVen
