Will Smith Invites Venus and Serena to the Table

I'm warming up for my Red Table takeover. I've invited five extraordinary women from one of the most famous families in the world that have invaluable life lessons, very special guests. You are not gonna want to miss this one. Stay right there. Boom. This is exciting, lit, very exciting. This is a very special Red Table is for a very special movie that you were starting in. We have Venus

and Serena and they're they're around here somewhere. I always wonder why you come like to the Red Table before I do my takeovers. Are you concerned? I am always concerned. It's just that last minute of grounding. Yes, so I don't break the Red Table. That's right, Okay, you do great Red Table takeover. Yes, it's Will Smith's Red Table over,

so technically you're trespassing. I'm trying to get on technically. Technically, the sign it says Will Smith's Red Table takeover right, sounds like a no trustpassing sign that you walked past this guy. Do I look good? How to look? This's this's the right? No right? That would be weird when somebody played your father. Can you imagine how weird that we and you did such a great job. Kudos, kudos? You know you don't use that word a lot. I don't.

I don't use kudos. Kudos is not really a negronic word. We don't say that. Our people don't say kudos. That's true. Kudos is up there with to shade. You want to bring them out. They're here, Venus and Serena. We're gonna, we're gonna start. They're ready to everybody's ready. I'm ready, ladies and gentlemen, Venus and Serena. Where colors look at the table, have a seat. I just came in here, right right here, making sure everything goes right. Yeah, I just want to I love you. Have a good one,

all right. Let us begin with what brings us to the table. So I have a new movie coming out November nineteen in theaters and on HBO, Max called King Richard and you know, I play your dad, and uh, you too are executive producers of the film along with your sister Isha. And let's roll the trailer. Let's check the trailer out first so people know what we're talking about. Now. I mean, mind you saying we're hold on these kids. You know who I because we are. That's our job

to keep mark these streets. You want to check on the kids. Let's check on the kids. We got future doctors, lawyers, plus a couple of tennis stars in this house. The chances of achieving the kind of success that you're talking about, it's just very, very unlikely. Okay, you make a mistink, but I'm gonna let you make it. Watch a few balls, all right, So tell me your names and again I'm Venus. So what do you think? I wrote me a seventy eight page plan for their whole career before they was

even born. These girls so great? How come I've never heard them there from camp? It's okay, they're just not used to seeing good looking people's like, uh, I think you might just having next Michael Jordan's or no, brother, man, I got meet the next two. This next step you're about to take, you're not gonna just be representing you. You're gonna be representing every little black girl on earth. They're not gonna lets you doubt how could you this world?

They never had no respect for Richie Williams, but they're gonna respect y'all. You don't walk out there with your head up. You are champion and the whole world knowing the most dangerous creature on this whole earth. It's a woman who know how to think. Yes, Daddy, ain't nothing. She can't do it. You're want showing my dangerous you are. Yeah, Yeah, Venus and Sabrina, I'm gonna shake up this world. Wow, what does that feel like? It's really overwhelming, you know,

it never gets old. It's definitely surreal and uh, it's definitely super super emotional. What was interesting for me that was the most terrifying part. So you both are executive producers of the film, but you withheld whether or not you were going to be executive producers until you saw the film. It's a it's a it's a complicated story to tell. And as you know, my dad is such

a I always say he's before his time. Down to just marketing and even just to put us in a sport that was completely a white sport, and then to say that we were going to be the best at it. It It was something that knowing had ever done before. So um, and you know, Hollywood can be you know, they could get it right or they can get it wrong sometimes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we wanted our story to make sure that it would be something that was really we're proud of and you did, like, how do you

feel when you see it? For me? Um, you know, I wanted to honor the two of you and to honor your family in a way that would resonate with your heart forever. I did it with Muhammed Ali, and I didn't want to do it, and Muhammed Ali asked me personally, you know, it is such a daunting task what you guys represent in the world and what you've created. Your story is one of the most inspirational stories in

American history. And when you make a movie, it's it's an opportunity to It's like you take a snapshot that lasts forever, you know, so, and you just don't want to take a terrible picture of such beautiful subjects. Yes, your dad is a lot like my dad, where like everything lessons, Yeah, and it's crazy because I've kind of become like that with with my kids. Also, what were some of the foundational lessons that you felt like we're being instilled my mom and dad, they wanted us to

be able to handle whatever life came at us. So the way we approached tennis was also how you approach life. Like when you get on the court, you never accept defeat, you give it, you're all, you find a way, and that translated to life as well. They wanted us to be champions in life and it turned out pretty good. Yeah,

that's beautiful. The first lesson for us with spirituality but God first, and that gave us an opportunity to actually be better at what we do because we were able to realize, as much as you wanted, this is just working a job, There's so much more and bigger things in life. That's the foundational lesson that has literally helped us to maintain our mental health. So what does that mean for you? Putting God first? How does the thought of God affect training and being on the court and

interacting with people that's a difficult. It really affects in every single decision you make. How do you treat this person or how do you even approach a match and almost takes a little pressure off of you because you know, like, okay, nobody wants to win this match more than me. But for us, there's something much bigger that we believe in and that we know is true. So at the end of the day, as much as that moment means to us, we always have the giant, most biggest pillow to fall

back on. Yeah, I remember I was planning this match is infamous match in Indian Wells. In the final, A twenty year old Venus in a nineteen year old Serena were set to face off in the semifinal of the Indian Wales Master's Tournament. Just four minutes before this highly anticipated match, Venus shocked tennis fans when she suddenly withdrew from the tournament, citing tendonitis in her knee. Rumor spread that Venus's last minute cancelation was pre planned by their father,

Richard and intended to give Serena a lega. Two days later, events took an ugly turn when Richard, Venus, and Serena were met with angry fans and relentless booze. Wow. I mean it was hard and I just remember I was losing and I didn't even care. I was like, I don't want to win. I just want to get out of this with dignity and not just walk off the court and not just start bawling. Right there at that moment, and literally every change over, I sat down and I prayed.

I was like, just help me get through this. Just just help me step on that court and just help me. I'm not even trying to win. I just want to go on that court and I just want to just finish the match. I know that I got strength, and not only did I, I somehow came back and won that match and I was able to just to get through that moment and it really has helped us in

so many different ways in our career. Indian Wells, that was that was a rough That was a rough one for me, and it was it was so hard because I'll never forget driving back and Tundy was there and I just remember getting in the car and I was just bawling and was at the gas station. There was no celebration and I was just like crying and crying and crying. And even when I went back fourteen years later, it was very traumatized. It was like really post talk

about post traumatic stress and mental anxiety. I remember sitting in the bathroom thinking, okay, wait, I'm not gonna go back. I I just don't think I should do this, Like what if they started booing me again? Because it was it was really hard for me. We've had to face different things that quite frankly, no one has been able to face in tennis, you know, and it's been very, very difficult. That's why we relate so much to each other.

Actually was more upset that they were booing my sister when she came down the wall, like why are you blowing her? Like that makes no sense? You know? And my dad too as well. I got like one thing about me, I'm fiercely like, I'm the kind of person that I'm with you make a mistake, I'm with you, I'm with you. But then when I'm done, I'm done. Ye know. How do you handle losses? Like whether do

you not? Well? Really, you're so good at it, and you're like, oh my god, worse worst, I'm already planning, like that moment, what I'm gonna do. I dream about it that night, and no one likes to lose. But I can't stand it. Especially in tennis, it's just you. You You feel like, gosh, I have to look at even deeper inside. I thought I had it right. I thought I was doing the right thing. But I gotta go even deeper, work even harder to figure out how to

win this match. So not well, of course, it's as always you give your best, and I think that's what three and I can always, and probably most players not all, but can feel like, even though I lost, I did give my best. I prepared the best that I could. Maybe I didn't do it right, but you can sleep at night with that thought. Of course you would want to be better, but you can sleep at night. What

was the one that hurt the most all of them? Yeah, we always have amazing moments in the locker room after where it's mostly especially after losses, because it's like you just really are angry, and then the only person that can understand is minus What are the lessons that you've gotten from each other everything. I think my most powerful lesson from Serena was I was like this person with a lot of talent, but I didn't have like an

extra heart to kind of go past the line. I recognize that in myself and by watching Serena was able to learn how to get that because she just was fearless, and so I watched and I said, okay, I need that part and I learned it. But it's so cool that you recognize that in yourself. Yeah, I recognize that, and I learned it quickly, and I was just watching her do it because I saw, Wow, she's got it. That's what I want. I always liked it to the grine member at the in you got this little heart

like a blo gross. I swear that was me. So I don't like Christmas My go where do you feel? Is one of the lessons you got from Venus? Um, well, I don't. Usually I don't apply the lessons that a lesson if you don't learn her. She's so classy and

I'm so like crazy, you know. Laying her is so annoying because it's like here, I am like screaming my eyes out, and she's like, you hit a shot, and you know, even if it's a winner, she'll just like go to the next shot, and I'm just like, aren't you that And it's just the most frustrating thing in the world because she just keeps his face. And I didn't apply any of those. None of those lessons applied, so I'm still learning. For me the experience as an actor.

You it's almost like you put on a person, so like, what is that for you? Because you really enveloped and became Richard Williams. It was that is such a compliment from your brother way than I like for for the daughter of the person you're playing. That is the ultimate compliment as an actor, So thank you. Um, I understand him. My father was from that same generation. Your father was a hustler the way that my father was, and always a new business and always a new idea and slamming

into wall after wall. Reading your father's book and looking at all of the tape and really diving into his mind. One of the lines was this world and never had no respect for Richard Williams. But they're gonna respect all. Yeah. You know, as you're you know, growing, and the years move on in this business and you see more and more and you learn more and more. What are the things that you will not tolerate? Zero? Literally nothing come

for me if you want to. I always say, I don't start anything, but please don't start anything with me, And I won't yell and scream, but it'll end. Yeah. No, I'm the nicest person in the world, but I just don't like to be disrespected. So and I think when you're younger you don't realize that you have those options to say no, and as you grow up and understand why, you're like, I can't say no. I actually don't have

to take this. It's a wonderful feeling, you know, that concept of of mental health and what actually is the responsibility of athletes in terms of the press. Your father was really ahead of his time. He was. There was a video that even before I was going to do the movie, the one not the famous one with the the uh no, I'm not gonna spring that on you. He's like, oh, don't you red table me with no, the one with your father and the reporter when yeah,

we have that video. I actually have never watched it. I know I compete here. You know, you can very confident. I'm very count You see it so easily? Why because I believe? Yeah, I'm looking tell you why. But she has said she said it was so much confidence the first half. But people want but we can't keep it interrupting me. If you want, you got to understand, do you dealing with the amateur in your child and this child gonna be out the black when your old ass

and ego being the brand. But she said something, we don't told you what's happening. You don't with a little black head, and let help being kid, you're answered with a lot of propert and live that alone. So I've actually never watched that since that day. Really, yeah, it was intense, but I'm thinking you feel like thinking, well, I'm gonna just sit here. Really yeah, And he was badgering me, and he looked like maybe it was enjoying it,

but he's like, what are you confident? What's going on? Dude? Now at this age, I would understand like I don't have to ask some like dude, move on or not or I will. Yeah, that's what I would say. Now I'm just thinking, yeah, they don't know my dad. That video. I saw that at a critical parenting point in my life. Really, if you notice your face, you out a little bit of a smirk, right, but you have no fear. But that showed me it was like you were a little girl who had a lion, and you don't want to

sick your lion on nobody. You know, you want to. I wish we could talk, but if you go too far, my lion will destroy you. Well, I knew what was going to happen, like I knew what was coming, like they didn't know. They found out. But the best part, I think, you know I kept answering the question is because we had been under pressure before. We had been under pressure in the court, We have been under pressure. My dad made us answer questions like why does the

rich man get richer and the poor man gets poor? Meanwhile, you're like five years old and you have to answer. You can't say I don't know. So we were long prepared for the pressures that we would deal with in life before we like stepped into these interviews or stepped into a classroom or wherever you find sure everywhere in life. That was kind of a good example not only of having the protection but also being ready for the world. It was such a beautiful thing, and it changed how

I related with my children. My father was a lion also, right, but he would bite me every once in a while. And what I saw in your eyes was that you had a lion, but he would never bite you. You were you had no fear of the lion. Biting you, right, and and I was like, I wanted to be a lion for my children, but I didn't want them to feel that they'd accidentally get swiped sometimes in my rage, right, And that's where you learn from. There's a line between

like getting swiped and also pressure and pushing. You gotta read the kid. You gotta know if this kid can take it or not, and how you approach it. It wasn't necessarily that liberal in my home, Like you kind of just had to get with the program, which is good too. Some of your biggest fans heard you were coming here to the Red Table, so they had some questions of their own. This one comes from a trailblazing

champion sister, so let's hear it. Okay. Look, the impact that Venus and Serena have made, not only in sports but in life have made a huge impact on my entire career. They've paved the way for black athletes as well as black women. I can't thank them enough, and I'm really grateful that I have them to look up to. I wish we were friends, but I am pretty much just a big fan of them. But I do remember meeting both Venus and Serena at separate times, and I

was just amazed at how tall they were. If I could have any life advice from Venus and Serena, it would be how do you keep going, especially when you need a mental health break? I was so amazing. I want to be friends with her. Sees, We're definitely gonna be friends. Yeah, that's a good question. Sman being and um gymnastics, that huge moment is once every four years. Our huge moment is four times every year. So for us, if we needed a break, I remember one time in

two six I've just took the whole year off. For me, when it comes to like Grand slams Um, sometimes I push maybe too far, you know, I just always keep going. Athletes live very unbalanced lies, and for me, that having a moment alone and be watching like I don't know, something silly just for like an hour, half an hour, and that kind of balances me out. It's a silly, simple thing, but then it helps me get ready for the next day. That's my prep for the next day.

I think just asking yourself a question like how how do I want to remember this moment? How do I want to handle this moment? If I look back in ten years how will I feel about this? I didn't know you asked yourself that question. I asked myself the exact same question. How am I going to fail in ten years? Um looking back on this moment? Is it gonna be worth it? Or is it not going to be worth it? I think also like life is about failures, right,

you just fail and it's okay. I think just that acceptance and failure is fine because even when you look back in those ten years, even if you fail, if you just gave it your all with what you had that day, that's still perfect. Also what you learn from that, I become my best player. Every time I lose. I learned from what happened in that loss, and I generally try to really make leaps and bounds from that loss.

And I think sometimes people are afraid to lose if they start winning, or they're afraid to fail, Like I know I was in that position, but that doesn't I don't even like the word like, it's not a failure. It's just like you slipped and then you'll get back up. And I think a lot of it too, is just taken out whatever the hell other people think. When you let go of that, you are free you are so

free to just do you. I think you always have to check yourself and ask that question, am I getting too caught up and what Sally and Bobby and Billy think, and like what matters to me? And like, let's pursue that path. Do you ever get caught up in what people say and think? This is a new place in my life. But that was really a difficult thing for

me and my heyday being an actor. It's like, yeah, but getting stuck on the movie, having to be number one and having to break box office records is It's it's crazy making right because I had to learn to to I had to learn to transition from other people's opinion of the movie and whether it's successful and all of that too. Well, did I like it? Did I have a great time making it? And did I put something in the world that I'm proud of no matter

how people react to it. But that's got to be tough, though, because there have to be times where you want to take a role because it has significance to you, or because of the quality of the script or whatever. It may not necessarily be a movie that everyone wants to see or whatever it is. That's got to be hard for your like creatives. Yeah, no, Now. Sam Jackson said it best. He said, I do one for them, one for me. There's a lot of love out there for you.

And here's some more famous fans. My relationship for Venus and Serena goes back to the nineties. Getting to sneak you out to parties, make sure you're getting back in time to play. Always so much fun. And I'm so proud of you and just in all of both of you for what you've achieved and what you've done for women around the world, not just women of I can't wait to see this film, and I really love you

both so much. So the world knows Serena and Venus Williams as the Goats, but I feel lucky to know Serena as one of my closest friends on this planet. She is an extraordinary athlete, obviously, she's also an extraordinary friend and mother and partner and the leader. And she's also the most organized person I know. She is a force and somebody who I deeply, deeply admire and love well. I'm one of the millions of fans around the world that they have their icons of the sport. I also

consider myself a friend. I remember this one night when we won the Wimbledon trophies, Bolt, Serena and I and by there at Serena to dance with me. She was all game for it, and she's always game for her for any kind of fun. Who had a lot of fun, a lot of a lot of laughs. Everything they do on and off the court is truly inspiring. A sport owes so much to William's sisters. Their perseverance is incredible.

The willingness to continue to write the history books of our of our sport is something that truly motivates me and many others to phone their footsteps. That was fantastic, incredible, Love you guys. So without Venus and Serena and Richard, this next fan would have never dreamed so big. So check it out, Hi, It's Cocot, Serena, Venus. There are people that I look up to, but they're also my competitors, which is crazy that I can say that, you know, I felt like that was such a far fest dream.

I remember when I played Venus at Wimbledon and I'm Australian Open. Both times I had to tell myself not to look at the scoreboard because I would be starstruck playing Devils with Venus. That was such a cool experience as a little girl, and even now, it was so important for me to see two successful black women dominating a sport that is predominantly white and let me believe that I can do that too. Also the impact that Mr Williams continuous to lease on the world. My dad

is also my coach as well. I'm seeing a black dad pushed the boundaries and something that my family definitely looks up to. They definitely fierce competitors on the court. Off the court, they're both really nice people and really funny, goofy people would like to have from them. How were they able to balance dominating the sport and also dealing with all the naysayers and the critics. First of all, I love Coco. She's so sweet and she really my

other doubles partner, Yeah, the only doublest partner. I won't break legs. Partners was very possessive here. I was like, you know, we're gonna we want to play doubles, but I want to make sure you don't want to play first, Like, is it okay? Yeah, I'm really happy for you. Guys have fun um naysayers For me, I just don't hear them, and I think Venus put it best this year. Oh my gosh, I know every single person asked me a question can't play as well as I can and never will.

So no matter what you say or what you write, you'll never let it candle to me. And it was so true, Like everyone that's saying something that successful people or someone that's doing something in their life, they're not bringing you down. It's usually some one that is either jealous or unhappy or want to be you. That's my thing. It's like, yeah, movie critics, it was like you said, one line one of one camera. You wan't criticize what just I need you to exactly. I need you to

be Piet play a hateing from the sideline exactly. Let's just focus on you and that's all you can control. Everything else it's all background noise, and you know what, You're not doing anything if people aren't talking about you in a negative way. So I look at as a plus like, okay, cool, So that means that I'm doing something in there unhappy. So yeah, it's just the world that we live in. People can just be so mean sometimes.

But at the end of the day, you go home with you, you don't go home with you know these people that are being cruel. I'm so good at blocking it out. I don't just I just hear nothing. I actually only hear positive things. That's how. And I'm not kidding. I don't even it doesn't. Yeah, Venus and Serena didn't get to the top alone. Everyone in the close knit

Williams family was there every step of the way. Mom Or are Seen coached them to a record breaking one hundred and forty nine titles, including forty four Grand Slams and eight Gold medals. Their three sisters gave their unconditional support and each found success in their own lane, Lindrea as a stylist and costumer, Issha as a lawyer and businesswoman. Their beloved oldest sister, your Tun, was a nurse and owned a beauty salon. She tragically lost her life in

two thousand and three. We know family is everything for you. So for their first interview together ever, welcome the matriarch of the family or Seeing Price and Serena and Venus and sisters Isha and Lindrea, Hie, thank you for are doing this. I know this is a this is a first I don't already your eyes already alright, for everyone at home, Isha and Lynn actually worked on the film, so they were there every single day, um as essentially

quality control. So Richard Williams comes to you two years before because because this is an important question, this is really this is the only reason I wanted to do this red table. This is the one question. This is two years before and says, we need to have two more kids, and they're gonna be the number one and

the number two tennis players on Earth. I got a seventy eight page plan and I put it together, and you said, Okay, what was in the pitch that made you believe that this was real and true impossible fiction. I'm sure she thought he was totally insane, But you know, my dad is convincing. You know, he's very convincing. He's very convincing that I will definitely, And he's a marketer before his talk. Yeah, one thing he knew was marketing, so he marketed and branded her into it. And there

we are. I'm trying to get people to understand how amazing it is. This family knew that this was going to happen, and everyone was doing it. Together the ongoing tenacity of my dad to never give up and never stop, you know, don't miss a day, six days a week, rain and shine out and chase the dream. So it wasn't just talking about it. There was the execution part

of it that it had to happen. And that was the part where my mom was so critical because my dad is very much a visionary, very ten thousand foot view you know. Yeah, but how do you get to that idea? It was something that we did together every day. My mom was always like, listen, if this is gonna happen, we have to do it together. Otherwise you can't have it dis joined. It this person over here doing one thing, this person over here doing another thing. It doesn't you

can't execute that way. So it had to be a unit and you have to work on the same line. It's like an assembly line, and that us had to be strong. It's the verse in the Bible. A perfect bonding union is love and you have to show that and then you have to work together and bond it together and make sure it happened. And then the most important thing is no doubt and no fear here. So I never doubt it when people would say, uh, yeah, they think they're gonna do this. When people are like that,

you're lying your way from those kind of people. You can move forward to where your goal is. And we had a goal. It wasn't money. It was just a way of life that we wanted for the girls and we wanted something better because when we first moved the content, my head dropped because I didn't want to move that. I never lived in a neighborhood like that before in my life. But each step you grow and you grow and you get stronger. It built your character and you

builds them to be make them strong. And like now we see people that they just want everything given. You have to have a foundation so you can be strong. It goes you don't have a good foundation, you're gonna shatter. So that's very important and it's nothing easy, but you don't doubt yourself. It's cool. It was. It really was a family effort. And uh, not to be the comedian here,

but I am. You know. We all played tennis and then when it kind of narrowed down to myself in Venas, they were out there every day picking up balls, lend me skip to day. Well, didn't miss any days on set I just remember I didn't want to go out in the rain rain, it was cold, and it was five. I was five, Like I could fit under the bed, so I did. We had each other, and I think that's what our bond is so strong now. It wasn't even a doubt, Like it wasn't like are we are

we gonna make it? It was like, all right, when we get to this age, this is what we're gonna do. It was never like is it gonna happen? Is it not gonna It was like, this is going to happen, and this is what's next. One time I heard Venus say someone asked her a question about, like, you know, how did you know? She was like, I think our parents kind of brainwashed us into just believing that it

was gonna happen. They made up this game. We would play outside and they would hit tennis balls with their hands and they'd be like, I'm playing the French Open. They would play these different tournaments, but they were just hitting with their hands these balls, all three of them, and it was just kind of like, yeah, like who are you? Okay, I'm this I'm this person, you know. But part of that was just this unending knowing just to knowing that this was going to happen. That I

never asked, so we here just a question. So, for example, we've always were told we were going to be able to do whatever we wanted and be able. So we believed it because when you're a kid, your parents are your biggest role models, the people you believe in, and so that was just what we believed. We're like in this bubble. But how did you all know that without a doubt it would happen. I think Richard knew when he first taught me how to plea tennis, so he

knew we had good genetics. Yeah, oh, let me play to you, and let me playing to you. See when when when when an antheleague h man kids with another afthleatue, you got to expect that it's gonna be athlete. You know, that's that's not that's not an uncommon thing to understand. You know, it's very simple. Venus Williams, who is your best friend? He daddy Serena Williams, who is your best friend? Genus?

Thank you? Literally the job that you did was unbelievable and the integrity you brought to the set and the way that you made everyone on set feel. I don't think that that gets talked about enough. It's not like you really consider yourself. Will Smith like, you come ready to work and work harder than everybody else, and that's

what we're used to. It was really special for me because it was my first time as a producer and I was there to make sure the story was told right because that was the charge I was given by my family. They were like, if this is gonna happen, then we need to have like boots on the ground. It was important to get it right and to be authentic because my mother charges us with honesty all the time. What was the reaction that you had seeing Tundy depicted in the in the film. I think I cried the

whole time whenever she came on film. I just personally I just started like yeah, I mean even still. Yeah. It was a quiet moment. Yeah, I think because we know how it was and then how you know it just it was just something that you kind of trying to put it back your mind and don't want to remember. But I just missed her because when I could tell on Asha was so bossy and I'll be like, teted, can you get Issha Plea would be like, I'm on it. And she loved to have fun too. She knew how

to have fun. She was Original Team V Yeah, totally yea. Before there was a TV, she was TV. Yeah, we have the tissues somewhere. You can tell who the weepers are. Venus and our weepers were just more introverted weepers. What doesn't even make sense. Thank you. I didn't see any refuge from me. See your mom is a I'm good. So did your family relate to the movie when they saw it? Oh? Yeah, they loved it. Willow is probably the the most emotional art consumer in our family, so

she loved it. She could feel um even my growth as a parent from having embodied some of Richard's ideas as an actor, when you play a character, you always take something away. There's some part of it that becomes you forever. And that was one of the first things that Willow said. She was like, that's why you started calling me three times a day. That's awesome. She was like, Okay, I get it. You know she's you know Venus Williams, who was your best friend. She was like, oh, okay,

I get it. You're you want to be my best friend now. So you know, there are families around the world that have dreams and ideas, and there's parents that want to help their kids to grow. You know, what is a piece of advice or wisdom knowing all of the pitfalls and difficulties that they're going to have to embrace. I'll answer part of that. Know your children. Know your children, know what they can do, know what they're capable of. Push,

but don't push very hard. Encourage, make sure their mental health is fine, because it's all here more than anything else, It's all in your mental state of mind. I think you don't ever want nay sayers is to negate who you are. You gotta know who you are. Do the haters demulife because they got hate. Hate's gonna hate. Having a good support system is super important because I look at my mom and I'm how my dad at one point was working and then he stopped. He's like, this

is what we're gonna do. I'm not going to have a job, and I'm going to go with Venus and Serena and train them every day. Now, that would be impossible for me. If my husband were to tell me that, I would be like, um, I've kind of worked my whole life and trying to like relax a little bit.

But she had to support seven people as a family of seven, and so to have that faith and to have that back end support and to always know all the work that she's done and the humility that she continues to have, and we wouldn't have survived without that. So it definitely takes a lot of support in ways that you know, might not be the biggest story in the room, or might not be the biggest thing, but it is the biggest thing that helped people make it,

and we wouldn't have made it without that. Yeah, so well said, because my mom was really the guiding force in our and you can see that with her words. He's so wise and fun. Actually, she's so much fun, Like you're very witty. We do hold our breath a lot sometimes when speaking public, like a bit. I think

that's why she ended her Twitter account. But yeah, it takes a lot of support in general, you have to have someone that's and I want to add to that too, is that that support should come within the family if possible. And one of the best things I was ever told to us and why we're so close is that your sisters are your best friends. You're not allowed to fight. These two didn't follow, but we became each other's biggest support,

and that's what we were told to be. So if you can keep your family together and make that support within, that's the biggest support you'll ever have in life. People are like waiting for this other shoot to drop, Like secretly we like hate each other or whatever it is, like actually secretly we don't. Just having the faith that these people around this table will always be there. Things

happen there. We don't always meet eye to eye, we don't always agree, but knowing that I can always go home, it gives you so much courage to take that next step, to do that next thing. We grew up in Compton, but we had everything that we could have needed in more even if they were shooting in the streets. So it's interesting. It doesn't really matter where you come from. It matters your values. That's the most important thing. That's beautiful, very well said. I want to thank you all so much.

It was one of the most um magnificent honors of my career to be able to be in in side of your journey and life and and your family. Um I think inc what you've done and who you are and who you continue to become is uh spectacular and I am humbled that you allowed me to be a part of telling your story to the world. Appreciate you, Thank you great, thank you, Thank you all so much. To join the Red Table Talk family and become a part of the conversation, follow us at facebook dot com

slash red table Talk. Thanks for listening to this episode of Red Table Talk podcast produced by Facebook, Watch, Westbrook Audio, and I Heart Radio.