Speculation surrounding the status of Serena Williams‘ marriage to husband Alexis Ohanian has been brewing for a while. The whispers recently intensified following their lackluster anniversary messages to each other via social media.
On Saturday, Nov. 16, the couple consummated their seven years together by sharing Instagram posts dedicated to one another.
“7 years has gone so fast… Happy anniversary @alexisohanian thank you for being the best dad to our girls @olympiaohanian and @adiraohanian Thanks for also making an average November day a costume party and making it special,” the 23-time Grand Slam winner captioned her post, which featured several images of Ohanian in daddy mode during Halloween and candid family moments.
Her counterpart shared a touching family portrait featuring Williams and their daughters, Olympia, 7, and Adira, 1.
“7 years ago today, we got married here. Now we get to bring these two for beignets. Happy Anniversary 🎉 Thanks for giving me the two greatest humans we’ve ever met. You’re an amazing mama. I’m very lucky to have met you,” he said before tagging Williams and their daughters.
The choice to focus their anniversary messages around their children caused fans to hold their congratulations and call out the lack of public affection, stirring up more rumors of potential marital trouble.
One person commented, “Hope everything is still going strong with you all! Staying together for the kids is commendable regardless.”
After being met with some backlash about their assumption, the original commenter dropped some receipts to the naysayers.
“Also bc Serena made a tweet on 10/21 that said, “I don’t know who needs to hear this (maybe no one) but if someone, even someone close to you is robbing you of your joy it’s ok to walk away.”
Another person also noticed the dry message from Williams. “Agreed, nothing about love. only compliments on parenting.”
Another fan later asked, “Nothing about you guys being happy to be married to each other?”
The comments on Ohanian’s post also speculated there could be some trouble in paradise.
“No word of love to Rena? Shame, wonder what might’ve happened,” said one follower.
Another replied with how telling the “odd” message is. “It was a very odd message. To not use the word love to your wife in an anniversary post is odd. However the words seem very much what he was aiming to articulate. ‘happy to have met you.’”
One said that regardless of how odd or off-putting the messages are, Williams won’t see them because she doesn’t always follow her husband on Instagram.
The drab anniversary messages aren’t the first time the rumor mill has begun to buzz about this nerd-jock love story.
In May 2024, Williams attended the Met Gala sans Ohanian. His absence was out of the ordinary for the couple, as it was the first one he hadn’t attended since they became husband and wife.
To add fuel to the fire, the Reddit co-founder was missing in action during Williams’ highly documented and publicized outings during Milan Fashion Week. There was also no annual Father’s Day post for Ohanian, as there has been over the past years.
Things got intense when people noticed Williams had been photographed several times without her wedding ring.
Social media followers quickly defended her in the conversation regarding the missing ring.
“I mean she is trying to lose weight so maybe the ring had gotten too small,” wrote one person. Another said, “She just had it on at essencefest.”
However, in October, Williams fanned the rumor flames herself after posting a cryptic message on X just weeks before her anniversary.
“I don’t know who needs to hear this (maybe no one) but if someone, even someone close to you is robbing you of your joy it’s ok to walk away,” she posted.
The message started a war within the replies of what one should tolerate within a marriage.
“If that someone close to you is your spouse, you try to work it out rather than walk away because there’s no such thing as a perfect marriage,” one replied.
Another X user replied, “If your spouse is robbing you of your joy then wtf is there to work out? That’s not an imperfect marriage, that’s hell.”
