Serena regretted signing a secret agreement that had a serious impact on her life
Tennis legend Serena Williams signed a deal with Penguin Random House to write and publish two books:
A memoir about her life on and off the court and an inspirational title, according to multiple reports—the latest entry into the highly lucrative celebrity memoir market.
Serena Williams is photographed at the 54th NAACP Image Awards on February 25 at the Civic
Williams, 42, is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all-time.
Born in Michigan and raised in California, Williams became a professional tennis player at the age of 14.
She won the 1999 U.S. Open, her first major title, at 17. She went on to win 23 grand slam titles—more than any other female player in the modern era—dominating the international women’s professional tour for decades.
She has also won four Olympic gold medals and five WTA tour championships. She married Ohanian in November 2017 and the two had their first daughter in September 2017, a little over a month prior.
Williams stepped away from tennis in 2022, but emphasized at the time that she may return to the sport in the future.
Outside of tennis, Williams has become a significant business figure. She is the cofounder of Will Perform, a startup that creates products for topical pain relief and muscle and skin care, she runs an investment firm called Serena Ventures and in April, she launched a multimedia company called Nine Two Six Productions.
She also owns a small stake in the Miami Dolphins and released a children’s book in 2022.
She is the 89th-wealthiest self-made woman in the U.S. and the 49th-highest paid athlete in the world, according to Forbes’ America’s Self-Made Women and World’s Highest-Paid Athletes lists.
Williams’ book announcement comes as other celebrities are raking in huge sums of money for their own memoirs.
Prince Harry’s memoir Spare sold more than 1.4 million copies on its first day in publication in the U.S., Canada and Britain and is rumored to have brought Prince Harry $20 million, the New York Times reported.
It saw the largest first-day sales numbers of any nonfiction book ever published by Penguin Random House.
Former President Barack Obama’s memoir, A Promised Land, reportedly sold over 887,000 copies on its first day on shelves in the U.S. and Canada in 2020, while his wife Michelle Obama’s Becoming sold more than 725,000 copies on its first day in 2018 in the U.S. and Canada, according to the Times.
Pop star Britney Spears is set to publish her memoir, The Woman in Me, later this month.
