Serena Williams (2:04)

Working with Ro.

Yasmin Vesukian (2:05)

What was the moment that you were like, I gotta get on these?

Serena Williams (2:09)

Honestly, I think I've been trying to lose weight for so long and just forever, ever since I had my first child in 2017. So after that, I would work out. I literally played professional tennis and, you know, I was never able to get my weight down to where I needed it to be for a healthy area, no matter What I did. And I played Wimbledon, I played Opens, you know, I played Grand Slams, I trained, I ran, I swam. I mean, you name it, I did it. And nothing ever worked. You know, tried different diets, vegan, vegetarian, protein, it didn't matter. When I had my second daughter, it was the same thing. Like, I was finally able to get somewhere closer to my goal, but not really. But the second one, I got even further away again, running. You know, after I had the baby, I would lose a lot of weight fast, but then I would never, like, lose much more than that.

Yasmin Vesukian (3:01)

And now you're in your 40s, too, which is like an extra.

Serena Williams (3:04)

I mean, do you have to tell everybody?

Yasmin Vesukian (3:06)

I mean, I'm 45.

Serena Williams (3:07)

Okay, well, you look great.

Yasmin Vesukian (3:08)

So do you.

Serena Williams (3:09)

Thank you. Exactly. Though when you become in. When you get into your 40s, things change. In particular, you have kids, and so it's just like, things slow down. Things just. I don't know. Anyways, that's a whole different conversation. But all I know is that I was like, my friends were on it, a lot of people that I knew was on it. And then I was like, maybe I should try it. No. And I was like, maybe I should try it. No. And then eventually I was like, I gotta try it. I've tried everything else. I approach it like an opponent.

Yasmin Vesukian (3:39)

Yeah.

Serena Williams (3:40)

Cause I'm like, I can't beat this opponent, this weight loss opponent. And so let me try something new. And I've tried everything. I've checked every box. And this was like the one box I didn't check. And I wanted to check. But then I was like, I'm not gonna check it. And then I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do it. And so, yeah, it worked out.

Yasmin Vesukian (3:56)

What was the real change that you immediately saw in your habits? That you were like, oh, my gosh, this is actually working.

Serena Williams (4:02)

So for me, everyone's story is different.

Yasmin Vesukian (4:04)

Yeah.

Serena Williams (4:05)

For me, there wasn't a lot of change in my habits. I'm like, probably one of the few people that, like, pretty much ate the same for a very long time.

Yasmin Vesukian (4:12)

You were always a healthy eater.

Serena Williams (4:13)

I was always a healthy eater. I was always working out. I was always running or doing something very physical, as, you know, famously just been. My life has always been phys. So for me, it was like, doing the exact same things, but getting the results. And so that felt good because it was like, oh, I'm finally actually losing weight now that I'm doing the exact same things.

Yasmin Vesukian (4:35)

I know we talked about at the top. Like, you don't like being called the goat. But people look to you and they're like, this is a woman who's a model of fitness, right? She walked out onto the court. One of the few black women that could just dominate in the sport of tennis, right along with her sister and being that person. But now, coupled with taking the GLP1s, there's gonna be. There's gonna be haters out there, right? There probably already are saying, Serena's now giving in to the noise. Right? What do you say to that?

Serena Williams (5:01)

I don't care about haters. I actually had them my whole life. They can just get in line. It's a long line. How do you not get in line? So give me a mess.

Yasmin Vesukian (5:07)

Can you help me?

Serena Williams (5:08)

Well, I mean, think about my career. I've been, like, in front of a camera the whole time, and reporters would talk bad about you in front of your face or just like, you know. So for me, it's just like, I became very. Just like, I don't know. It doesn't matter. I always like to say that instead of saying the word hater, I'm like, you know what? They have their own opinion. Everyone's allowed to have an opinion. Why should I care what they think? I don't.

Yasmin Vesukian (5:31)

Yeah.

Serena Williams (5:31)

So you don't need to listen. I don't need to listen. And I've gotten so good, actually almost too good at blocking out noise. But for me, I know what my journey is, and I've literally tried everything. And that's why I think it was also really important to share my story.

Yasmin Vesukian (5:47)

It's going to be tough, though, for some people that are like, listen, maybe I don't even qualify because of insurance. I can't afford it. Right. And they're like, how do I do this? How do I get there?

Serena Williams (5:56)

You have to just start. Like. That's why I love road co, because they do take a lot of different insurances, and so you just have to check and see. I can't answer the rest of that, but I do know that you just have to continue on the journey, and that's why I love talking about it. It also opens up the medicine for more people. I would hope so we just hope to just continue on that journey.

Yasmin Vesukian (6:17)

You feel more confident if you lack confidence, that.

Serena Williams (6:21)

No, you know, everyone can lack confidence. You never know what happens behind closed doors. But I feel lighter. I feel more confident. Happier is an interesting word, but you do feel, in a way, happier, but in a different way. It's hard to describe. And also, by the Way a lot healthier. And that's the one thing that stands out the most, is the health aspect.

Yasmin Vesukian (6:41)

I'm happy that you said you don't know what happens behind closed doors, so. You know, I'm new to the podcast world too. I've been on TV for a long time. And one of the coolest things about podcasting is that I get to share more about myself and have more in depth conversations. Right. Versus, like three minutes on TV and you're starting a podcast.

Serena Williams (6:57)

Yeah.

Yasmin Vesukian (6:58)

Stockton street, which is where you grew up in Compton.

Serena Williams (7:01)

So that's the street that we grew up on in Compton. Understand they changed the name of the street now.

Yasmin Vesukian (7:06)

But by the way, Kevin Costner and Dre are both from Compton, which is.

Serena Williams (7:10)

We all know Dr. Dre, but a lot of people don't know Kevin Costner is from Compton. So he's like the original. And then Dre and then, you know.

Yasmin Vesukian (7:20)

Yeah.

Serena Williams (7:21)

And then us. Yeah.

Yasmin Vesukian (7:22)

So what's the podcast about? What are kind of the misconceptions? What are the things that people think about Serena and Venus that you feel like you guys are gonna be able to share on the podcast?

Serena Williams (7:30)

Well, I think like you said, it's just really having great open conversations. And it's not just about us get in front of a mic and telling our stories and like, oh, I remember when this happened, back in 1842 or whatever. So that's not like, yet. Well, you never know. That's kind of. That's not what we wanna do. We wanna just talk about things that are in pop culture. We want to talk about sport, we want to talk about lifestyle. We both love fashion, we both love design, and we all want to kind of bring it together through the lens of, you know, what we kind of started with, which is sport. And so there's so many interesting things also happening in women and women's sport that I think we can talk about. And I invest in all that type of stuff. So, I mean, the conversations are literally endless. We have a plethora of things that we can just talk about, and so that's what we plan on doing.

Yasmin Vesukian (8:16)

You know, So I played college tennis. I say this because, you know, you've been someone that I've been looking at the whole time in your tennis career. And I always think about what it was like to be you walking out to that court. Right. Those eyes on you, knowing that you were kind of a rarity in the crowd, knowing that there were the haters. What is it in you that kind of distinguishes you from the rest that not only did you show up on the court, what you dominated. What is it in you think that has helped you?

Serena Williams (8:47)

Well, I think that kind of how, why this whole story of being on GLP1s with Roe makes sense to me because I did show up, I did dominate. I did know what to do to be the best. And I did that my whole career and nobody worked harder than me. I never really talked about what I did because I didn't want anyone ever to know how hard I worked. So I didn't want anyone to copy me and do the same thing and like, oh, they know the secrets. But that was kind of how I felt with my journey. I did everything and I know that I don't take shortcuts. I know how to work hard, harder than anyone. And it didn't work. Everything I did didn't work for me. Tennis is also like there's a game every week. If you lose this week, you gotta pull yourself together fast.

Yasmin Vesukian (9:32)

You have to.

Serena Williams (9:32)

There's another game next week and you could possibly play the exact same person. So figure it out. Figure it out now and move. So that's kinda how tennis is, which is also very helpful in life.

Yasmin Vesukian (9:44)

Our thanks to Serena Williams. And by the way, I still think she's the goat. To watch an extended cut of this interview, head to the NBC News YouTube channel and find us at the here's the Scoop playlist. All right, we're gonna take a quick break and when we're back, we're heading to the Lone Star State.

Liz Kreutz (10:04)

This Supreme Court term isn't business as usual. It's a full blown battle over democracy. Justices are shattering precedent, grabbing and even turning on their own. It's messy, it's high stakes and it's already reshaping how this country works. And our podcast strict scrutiny breaks it all down legally, clearly, and with just the right amount of side eye. New episodes drop every Monday. Subscribe and listen wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (10:30)

This week on Meet the Press following.

Serena Williams (10:32)

The Trump Putin summit in Alaska, Kristen Welker sits down with Secretary of State Marco Ruby and Senator Chris Murphy to.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (10:40)

Discuss what's at stake for the future.

Serena Williams (10:42)

Of Ukraine and the world. Only on MEET the Press.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (10:45)

Listen to the full episode now wherever you get your podcasts.

Yasmin Vesukian (10:53)

And we're back with here's the Scoop from NBC News. The Texas state legislature is back in session after Democrats return to the state. And the first thing on the docket, passing Texas Republicans new congressional map which could give the GOP five extra seats in Congress Republicans were able to get that map through in the Texas House last night after Dems attempts to block it failed. For more on this, I want to bring in our correspondent on the ground, Ryan Chandler. No pressure, but Serena Williams is on the podcast today, so you're following her.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (11:26)

Oh, that is a hard guess to follow.

Serena Williams (11:29)

Yeah.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (11:29)

Okay, cool.

Serena Williams (11:30)

All right.

Yasmin Vesukian (11:30)

NBC News correspondent Ryan Chandler is in Austin for us covering the story. He's been covering it from the beginning and he's joining us now. Hey, Ryan.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (11:36)

Hey, Yasmin. Thanks for having me.

Yasmin Vesukian (11:38)

It's great to have you. On what is coming next here in the state of Texas.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (11:41)

So we expect this to get to the governor's desk very quickly. What we watched last night in the House was really the last stand for Democrats to try to pull out all the stops to stall this. But ultimately, math is a tricky problem for Texas Democrats. And we watched it pass as we knew that ultimately it would. For the last two weeks, we've watched this dramatic standoff with Democrats fleeing the state to deny Republicans the numbers necessary to even take a vote on this. But they came home and took the fight to the House floor as they ultimately needed to, facing legal and financial threats, and ultimately they lost that vote. The Senate is probably gonna rubber stamp this as soon as tonight and the governor could sign it Friday.

Yasmin Vesukian (12:23)

I wanna take a step back for a moment. Cause if we're looking at Texas right now, you got the Democrats saying, okay, fine, the this thing got over the finish line for now, but what are we going to do about it? We're going to go the legal route. Right. What is that looking like for them and the likelihood they could stop it from happening from going into practice in Texas, These new maps.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (12:42)

Yeah. So Democrats knew that they were going to lose this House vote. They didn't have the votes, so they lost there on the political front. But they've tried to fight this in the courts and in the court of public opinion, really. They claim that Republicans drew these lines on racial lines. They call a lot of these districts discriminatory. They break up and pack together minority communities in some of the biggest, bluest cities in. In Texas is. Is their claim. So they want to bring a challenge possibly under the Voting Rights act, which could take this to federal court. But the timeline there is, is very abbreviated and very important because these maps need to be in place before the 2026 midterms, really before the March primaries, so that potential candidates know what district they're going to run in. This is a long legal battle that doesn't have a long Runway to play out.

Yasmin Vesukian (13:32)

Is there any there there to the arguments the Democrats are making that they've drawn these down racial lines, that the Republicans are trying to essentially take control of the congressional map?

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (13:41)

Well, let me introduce the Republican argument, which is simply that the only consideration that they took into account was partizan advantage saying that we did this to help Republican political performance without regard to race or anything else. We just looked at the partisan breakdown and added Republicans to, to districts to make them more red. And as unfair or unpopular as that might sound to some voters, it is perfectly legal. So that is the argument that they're going to take to court.

Yasmin Vesukian (14:09)

Let's talk big picture then, which is okay, so then you have Dems around the country saying, all right, we got to offset the possible loss of these five seats. And the leader on this, which is no coincidence, I'd say, which is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who obviously has some White House ambitions, to say the least, right. Getting out front of this, are we seeing this kind of thing across the country? And oh, by the way, former President Barack Obama getting on the side of Gavin Newsom saying, yes, this is what needs to happen for Democrats to offset the loss they might be seeing coming.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (14:38)

Out of Texas, which was real significant, right, for former President Obama to weigh in on this. Because this is new territory, this kind of eye for an eye, brutally partisan, unapologetically political battle for, for President Obama to endorse what California is doing, I think gives a lot of reassurance to Governor Newsom because he is, he is pushing the state to take a stark departure from the independent redistricting commission, which is how they draw the maps. Whereas in Texas, the politicians draw the lines. In California, though, they are not doing away with that independent commission. Right. They are passing what Governor Newsom calls an emergency temporary measure to create five seats and in direct retaliation to Texas. So that is an argument that he's going to have to sell to the voters there. But Democratic states are seeing some pressure to retaliate as President Trump says that Republicans are going to do the same thing in more states like Indiana and Florida, he said are looking to do the same thing last night.

Yasmin Vesukian (15:40)

At this point, it just seems like it's a, it's a race to the finish. And by finish, I mean the midterm elections.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (15:45)

Right? This is not about Texas or California. This is ultimately about Washington D.C. and who controls Congress. So whether you're in Maine or Texas or Alaska, this is going to impact you because in a razor thin Republican majority as we see now in Congress adding a net gain of five seats makes a huge difference.

Yasmin Vesukian (16:04)

Huge. Ryan Chandler, appreciate it.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (16:06)

Thank you.

Yasmin Vesukian (16:09)

Let's get to some headlines. Yes, we are still keeping a close eye on hurricane area. The Category 2 storm is curving northeast, pulling away from the North Carolina coast, but not before lashing the Outer Banks with storm surge, damaging winds and rough seas. And even as Erin drifts further out, dangerous rip currents and coastal flooding will continue to threaten much of the east coast and Atlantic Canada over the next couple of days. A New York appeals court has thrown out the massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump, originally set at over half a billion dollars with interest. The five judge panel of the appellate division ruled at the fine, which stemmed from a lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James was, quote, excessive and violated the eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution. While the court upheld the finding that Trump had exaggerated his wealth, it dismissed the financial penalty in its entirety, delivering a significant legal victory for the president. The decision leaves the door open for New York though to appeal the ruling to the state's highest court. The Mendez brothers long awaited parole hearings are here. Eric was today. Lyle is scheduled for tomorrow. NBC News correspondent Liz Kreutz is at the courthouse.

Liz Kreutz (17:20)

This is a critical day for the Menendez brothers. I am outside the brothers prison which is just outside San Diego. I am joined by a lot of other media outlets and we are all just sitting here and waiting to find out what the parole board is going to decide. We do expect that once the hearing wraps, the parole board will make a decision pretty quickly after that. This is a pretty big moment for them. It's been 36 years almost to the day since they committed these crimes and murdered their parents. So we're waiting. We will find out soon. If they are denied parole then they will have another chance in the future to go before the parole board again. If they are granted parole, it will ultimately go to the California Governor Newsom to make the final decision.

Yasmin Vesukian (18:03)

I don't run away. Well, you don't have to. For the first time in more than 20 years, the cast of Dawson's Creek is reuniting. On Monday, September 22, the beloved 90s crew will gather in New York City for a one night only charity event performing a live reading of the show's pilot episode. It is all to benefit the nonprofit F Cancer and to stand with their own James Van Der Beek, who revealed last year he's battling colorectal cancer. Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Joshua Jackson and the rest of the cast say this reunion is both a show of solidarity for Van Der Beek and a way to reconnect with fans who've been singing that theme song. Here's hoping Joey and Pacey stuck it out. I love them. Well, that's gonna do it for us at here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesukin. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring.

Sean Williams / Danny Gold (19:03)

Taking over the helm of NBC Nightly News, a 75 year old broadcast, it's a great responsibility. Good evening. I'm Tom Yamas. You have to go out there to bring people at home closer to the store. Wildfires continue to be a threat. With that massive hurricane comes the massive response. The best reporters in our business know how to listen. And when you listen, you get the truth. For NBC News, NBC News, I'm Tom Yamas. That's what we do every night. NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. Evenings on NBC.