Trevor Sits Down with Tennis Legend Serena Williams & Star of 'King Richard' Will Smith

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My guest tonight is legendary tennis champion and entrepreneur Serena Williams. She's here to talk about her venture fund and being an executive producer of the hit film King Richard. Serena Williams, Welcome to The Daily Show.

Thank you for having me.

It's truly an honor to have you here, especially at a moment like this in life, you know, because it's not every day that I or anybody gets to talk to one of the greatest of all time in any aspect.

You know, You've conquered.

The tennis court, but now it seems like Serena is going to be conquering the business world in a really meaningful way. Serena Ventures, Congratulations. The last I heard you raised one hundred and eleven million for the venture capital firm.

Yes, yes we did, and you know, I realized I've actually been investing for about nine years, and then I realized that, you know, the venture capital ecosystem really needs

It's a really powerful place to begin a journey because you know a lot of people, you know on the ground, I mean myself included. Many years ago, I didn't know what venture capital was. I didn't understand the importance of venture capital. I didn't understand that like that becomes the seed that essentially grows the tree that is the biggest companies that we see on every stock exchange, you know. And so if you can get people in on the ground there, you can change.

Their lives forever. Why did you decide to jump into.

A world that, I mean does not play nice, isn't like the friendliest environment, especially to women and then especially to women of color.

Yeah, so for me it was really important just just that, like, it's on the ground floor where you want more diversity and where you want more people involved. And that's where if you're looking to create wealth or however you want to look at it, that's where it starts, you know, And it's no better way to start there. Also, I

One of the craziest things I saw, I mean everyone saw it, you responded to on Twitter, was the New York Times posting about you know, like they had an article about your venture capital firm and the money and everything, but then.

They used your sister's picture. What you said was really powerful.

But I wondered, from your point of view, like what was the emotion behind it? Like were you hurt, were you disappointed? Were you angry?

Well, honestly, me playing tennis and a sport that has been predominantly you know, white, especially when I first started. You can't allow yourself to get too upset about those things and emotionally take that home. Especially if you're a mom or you have a family. It's it's definitely not something you want to be involved in. You definitely have to just you know, just understand, say something about it

I couldn't help feeling from your response that like that was a little bit of you know, your mom and dad coming through.

Now.

I haven't met them, but I'm one of the millions of people who watched the movie, and I feel like I've met your family.

Because it's true though. That's how I felt, But thank you for that.

It's it felt like, you know, the Williams family has this tenacious attitude. The Williams family goes like, hey, we're gonna address bs when we see it, but we're not gonna let it derail us from what we do.

And is it weird to see Will Smith as your dad? You know?

It was?

It definitely was.

I've gotten so used to it now that now when I see him, I'm like, hey, dad. But in the beginning it was definitely weird because it just was just weird. But he did such a great job of just becoming Richard Williams to a point where it was it was actually like I was looking at my dad or really remembering those moments when when we were together and when we were younger, and it's really amazing how everything that he did in that film.

It does feel like King Richard was just the origin story for you know, a burgeoning world, like you know, the sequels.

Because when the movie.

Ends, and I won't spoil it fore people who haven't seen it, all I want to do is see your movie now.

I want to see your sister's movie. I want to see your family.

Yeah.

I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, what do you mean this is it?

I want to wait too. I couldn't believe it was over. I thought it was just getting started. That journey is a really special one. I would love to know how your family managed to keep the love between and your sisters so intense even when there were so many moments for the two of you to have resentment towards each other because you don't you love each other, you support each other, and yet you compete against each other.

And that's really important because again, like when you asked me about the New York Times piece, it was like, well, we can't allow that to affect our lives. And we grew up and we still are extremely spiritual people and really have a great grind, great base of faith, and we know that we have so much more to look forward to. And then we also know that at the end of the day, like tennis will lasts, you know, ten years, twenty years or whatever, but family lasts forever.

I have a few personal well, I have a few personal questions just as a fan from my set. So number one, so who's responsible.

For your backhand? We didn't really get the onset in the movie.

I mean, your mom claims the credit, your dad wants to claim the credit.

Who made the Serena backhand?

It was definitely a combination of both. But I spent a lot of time on the court with my mom growing up, when I was in that age, but when I got a little old her it was just I will spend more time with my dad. So it's definitely a.

Mix, okay.

And then with regards to your daughter, she has two parents who come from extremely different worlds.

I mean, the world's are merging.

Now, funny enough, but you know, you've got the tech dad, and then you've got like the superstar sports mom. What's the thing that she sort of gravitates towards more If you put like a computer in front of her or a tennis recort, what's the first thing she'd grab?

Well, probably the computer because it has you know, all her little TV shows on it, and you know, the

I think you can do it because you're a product of theirs. I think you're doing it already. Serena Williams, thank you for joining me on the show. Congratulations on everything you've done venture capital, conquering the court, Congrats to your family, and thank you for being here with us.

Thank you, thank you for having me.

Welcome back to the Daily Show.

My guest Tonight is an Academy Award nominated actor, producer, and musician.

He goes by the name will Smith.

And he's here to talk about his new film, King Richard and his highly anticipated memoir.

Will Smith, Welcome to the show.

Oh good to be here, man. I appreciate you.

Do you enjoy watching that?

Oh my goodness. It's like Richard Williams.

Man, you know, he is such a unique and powerful man. He is he is so many different things, and you love him or hate him, you know, but his his daughters and his family just they they revere this man, and that, you know, that was the thing that was so interesting to me, because he's been villified and villainized publicly, but the love in his family is spectacular.

There is something to playing somebody in a way that doesn't provide a caricature of them but shows you their character.

Yes, And that's what I.

Really enjoyed about this film is. You know, we often hear about dads who are like, you know, ultra competitive. They want their kids to succeed at all costs of work. But I know, before I watched the movie, I didn't know the full extent of Richard Williams. I knew Venus and Serena. I was like, I know their dad, but I was like, oh, he's one of those dads. Yeah, but he wasn't one of those dads, is not.

No, he was a dad who was trying to create excellence. But he did in a unique way.

He did in a very unique way, and it was so so different from what I expected him to be. As you know, I have hundreds of hours of film and audio on him, so I was able to track him over, you know, almost two decades of interviews and things like that, and his book, and his entire family was involved with the process.

And I asked Venus, I was like, what did what did he do?

And she said it was almost like a Jedi mind trick, right, because he never pushed them to play tennis when they.

Were in trouble.

Their punishment was that they couldn't play tennis, and they would be itching and scratching and calling please, Daddy, let us play, please, let's practice. And he had figured out a way that you know, tennis was fourth or fifth on the list of their family priorities. They were using tennis to cultivate family and to cultivate.

You know, human beings, to go into the world and serve.

We've seen you.

Play real people in films, you know, we've watched you on these journeys, you know, you know, whether it's our LEI, whether it's pursuit of happiness. You know, we we see you in inhibit people's lives. You see you inhibit who they are, and I wonder how much of them now sticks with you.

Do you feel like you're part of the family now?

Yeah? Absolutely, It's it's uh, you know.

Serena walked on onto the set, you know, and I was full in character and she was like Dad, you know, but you know, it's it's you know, when you when you do these types of things that are about people's lives, and it wipes away every other desire other than wanting to please the family. If you make a movie about somebody's life and they don't like it, it is horrific.

Happened to you?

No, it's you know, I mean theoretical for these others.

You mess it up, you mess it up.

It's so bad for you.

I'm Will Smith.

I mean no, but I felt like, you know, I felt like that every time I go. You feel the weight, you feel the weight of it. It's like somebody's life and you're gonna, you know, commit it to screen. And Venus and Serena, they agreed to be executive producers, and they were with the project all the way through, but they were withholding whether or not they were gonna put their name on the film until after.

They saw That's pressure.

Yeah, that was a lot of pressure.

Ye, that's pressure.

I feel like this story was amplified by your experience with your father, and I say that for sure having read your book, now you get what I'm saying. Congratulations, by the way, congratulations. Many people can live a really fantastic life. Many people can write a great book. There are a few people who I think can translate a fantastic life into a fantastic book.

I think that's what you've done with Thank You Man for.

Real, because it's it's it's raw, it's it's confusing too many because you say it in the book, Will Smith consists of two people, the Will Smith that we all know in love and then the Will Smith that that character was.

Created to protect.

And Yet what I find is people are reading excerpts from the book and they're like, Will Smith wanted to.

Kill his father, Will Smith and Jada wanted to break up Smith. His kids were disappointed in him, And I'm like, are you reading the book? Are you. So let's let's start at the beginning.

You know what it's like to be raised by a father who is not perfect but also pushes you towards perfection. When you were when you were portraying Richard Williams, were they aspects of you that were maybe even understanding your dad more? Was there compassion that was building that goes with that that disappointment that you sometimes felt in him.

You know, I was working on the memoir while I was doing King Richard, and you know, so the picture of myself and my father and Richard Williams was all blending into you know, a process of growth and evolution and revelation. And big part of being able to understand Richard Williams was in my understanding.

Of my father.

You know that you know, post World War two generation black man, you know that knows how to do everything with their hands. You know, they got the toolbox and they can fix the fix. Yeah right, you know that was the thing with my father wanted us to be able to do things with our hands. Richard Williams was very similar in that way. And then the process for me of questioning my own parenting and developing and growing with my own parenting.

What what I learned and grew.

Into, which was a transformation for me with Richard Williams is Richard Williams.

Was aligned with what his daughters wanted to do.

He was following them where they wanted to go, and he was pushing them where they already wanted to go. And that was a very subtle but very critical difference that I was able to, you know, make that adjustment in in my parenting.

The book Will, I would say, is one of the most anticipated and yet unexpected memoirs that has that has ever come out because for so long you've been in enigma.

You know, man, you can't say down on TV.

Crazy you reme real you've.

Been You've been the guy who's like like it's it's Will Smith.

But it's like we see you in the Black Soup, we see fish, you know, we see you running down the bridge with a shirt open.

You run and slow moo the ship, you know what I mean, Like we know that Will Smith. And then we see you at the premiere. It's you and Jada, you know, it's the kids and it's everything.

It feels like there's been a like a literally a you know, a D and B C period in your life.

You know, there's there's there's before Will's reveals himself.

And there's everything we're living in now and and and the book feels like that, you know, it feels like you've gone, all right, I'm gonna I'm gonna take you behind the scenes, behind the scenes we've done I've never done with your life.

Yeah.

A big part of my motivation was I felt like I have experienced enough and reflected enough and you know, suffered enough that my advice could be valuable, right, you know, So the the things that I now understand were you know, cultivated in the battlefield, you know, yeah, survival.

Yeah.

When I you know, when it when when I'm talking about something, I'm not talking about theory. I'm talking about tested experience. So I feel like and and not that who I was wasn't true. It's what you know that that is true. It's just not the whole story. And so for me, I just wanted to take the filter off for.

I guess two reasons. One, I thought it's.

More helpful, you know, for somebody who wants to build their life, for somebody who wants to follow and do some of the.

Things that I've done.

It's more helpful if I tell you the truth right like that, you know, And then the other part of it is.

I get to be more free.

It's like a whole weight is lifted that I don't have to be perfect, that I'm allowed to be imperfect. I'm allowed to put on thirty pounds during the pandemic.

You know, I'm allowed to do all of that. And you know, there's a certain.

Emotional invincibility that is being cultivated that I just love. I love not being swayed by peopeople's opinions.

When you talk in the book. I love that you've been careful to tell your stories. I know this from writing my book.

I made sure. I was like, I talked to my mom. I was like, hey, are you cool you're writing us?

And I was like, these are my stories or the stories that you can find in the press. I'm not telling anybody else's story in that.

Way, which is really hard.

Yeah, you've been.

Really good with that, respecting Jada in this and Jada's got red table talk, and then you've got do you guys ever fight about it that way? Do you ever go like, hey, you can't say that there or how can you say that there? Or do you ever feel like you have to negotiate where the boundary exists?

So what I did was a.

Two week book camp right before I finished the book, so I had written it, and I called everybody I talk about in the book and brought them down to Miami and for two weeks I read everybody every word that I said about them. And it was an extremely powerful therapy session going through this stuff. My mother and I had never talked about my father's abuse.

Wow.

And it was the first time had never talked about it. We had never not one time. And I'm fifty I was fifty two at the time. And I read her the chapter and that was the first time that we ever we ever discussed it, and she said go ahead, and yeah, she was you know, first of all, she was shocked. She couldn't believe that my young mind had processed.

It in that way.

But it was so cathartic and reading everything, and you know, I got through a couple of chapters with Jada, and you know, she said, I want you to tell your story. I don't want to dilute what your experience was. She said, of course, I was having a completely different experience. But she said, I want you to be free to tell your story.

Relates to like everything that the media consumes that there's there's an element of like it's almost like a Piranha fish syndrome that happens online. You know, once there's blood in the water, they want to they want to at a thing until they know it.

To the bone.

Sometimes it will feel like people are trying to make it like, oh, Jada's coming for will you see what she said about They take her words out of context, they write headlines that don't match what the people are saying.

I get angry because I watch it and then I'm like, that's not what you say. You know what I mean.

As a couple, you have to protect yourselves because you are a couple.

Any any family unit does.

But but is there a part of you that goes like, you know what, we're going to shut this down, We're not going to say anything. Or have you taken a different approach? Do you go like, no, this is what we're doing and how we're going to do it.

So there there's there's nothing to really protect ourselves from.

Right, It's like the malice, the maalade, none of that. You don't know that that only speaks to.

Other people's level of consciousness and a lack of loving kindness on their part. That doesn't say anything about us. Right, So, our job as a couple and our job as individuals is to purify our hearts as much as we possibly can, to never do that to other human beings, to not add to the chaos, and to not add to the darkness, and to figure out as much as possible to.

Only add.

Love and hopefully understanding to the pot I embrace it as a part of my job in this world to provide whatever medicine, whatever elixir I possibly can, and not even thinking about that person as somehow beneath me. No, you'll see in these pages I got some purifying to do.

Myself, all right before I let you go. Yeah, this is a book.

Yes, that's a book.

A book means a movie's coming oooh. And that's how it works.

That's how it works.

You make a good book a movie where hold on, That's how it is. It's always worked. That means somebody has to play Will in the movie.

Yes, who's playing Will? If you're willing to get a fade, it's you don't tell me Will Smith. If you're willing to cut it into a fold where it's pretty right now.

I've already got some of the ears. You can't see it behind the froe Man's playing with my emotions somewhere this mass playing. Thank you so much for jo always Man. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by.

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