On the day Serena Williams met Alexis Ohanian in 2015, her friends were actually trying to get him away from her.
The group was having breakfast together when Ohanian sat down next to Williams even though there were plenty other seats available.
Is there really a rat here?
William’s friends told Ohanian there were rats where he was sitting. He responded, “Is there really a rat here? I’m from Brooklyn, I see rats all the time.”
The nonchalant answer intrigued Williams, who invited her new friend to come and sit with her old friends.
And just like that, their relationship began.
Kept Their Romance A Secret
Williams and Ohanian dated for 15 months before they let anyone know. Once he proposed, there was no reason to hide anymore.
The news shocked the world. Before the announcement, Williams had been linked to both Drake and Common. No one suspected she would ever fall in love with a tech guy!
As for Ohanian, he had just ended a five year relationship when he met Williams.
He had been dating his college sweetheart and microbiologist Sabriya Stukes.
Only one time in their 15 month courtship were Williams and Ohanian ever linked together.
Pregnancy revelation
Fans weren’t the only people shocked to find out Williams was pregnant. She learned herself right before she was scheduled to participate in the Australian Open! To make sure, she took six pregnancy tests, which all showed the same result.
Determined to compete still, she got a doctors approval.
When the world found out she competed and won, while pregnant, they were outraged.
Even after Williams assured everyone that she was medically cleared to play, she was still labeled as irresponsible by naysayers.
It didn’t help that her pregnancy reveal was an accidental Snapchat baby bump selfie!
They Had No Idea Who The Other Was
Amazingly, both Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams say they never knew who the other person was before they met. Ohanion told Vanity Fair that he thought he was talking to Serena Williams, but he wasn’t a tennis fan so her wasn’t sure.
Serena also admitted she had never heard of Reddit before meeting Ohanian. She did lie about it once, though.
When Ohanian asked her one day what she thought of that site, she said she had just logged off it. She then couldn’t provide any further details.
First date in Paris
A few weeks after they met, Williams and Ohanian went on their first date. The tennis icon was getting ready to compete in the French Open and invited Ohanian to join for a romantic weekend together.
Ohanian accepted, because who would say no to Williams, but said he didn’t have high expectations.
He knew that that even if she blew him off, he would still end up with an amazing story to tell his friends. Luckily for Ohanian, Williams kept her promise and they visited a zoo, several shops, and the Eiffel Tower.
Proposal in Rome with a rat!
After spending a year with Williams, Ohanian knew he wanted to marry her. For their one year anniversary, he invited her to Rome, where he set up a trail of rose petals leading her to the spot they first met.
There was even a plastic rat on the table just for fun!
Williams said yes, and announced the engagement on Reddit. In the post, she referred to herself as the “Future Mrs. kn0thing,” using a play on Ohanian’s username.
At the bottom of the post, Ohanian wrote, “And you made me the happiest man on the planet.”
Birth complications
When Williams introduced her daughter, Olympia, to the world in September 2017, she kept the health complications she endured during her pregnancy a secret.
A few months later she finally revealed that her heart rate dropped during contractions and emergency C-section had to be performed.
Her first week as a new mother, Williams had shortness of breath and blood clots in her lungs.
Her coughing became so violent her C-section wound re-opened. She took six weeks to recover from another surgery before she could begin performing her duties as a mother again. saying, “I was happy to change diapers.”
