Serena Williams, through her sheer dominance of the WTA tour for more than two decades, has carved her name in the annals of the sport. Apart from amassing titles on the tour, the former world no.1 also stepped into the business world and tasted success.

However, over the years, she has also come under fire and suffered plenty of criticism. Last year, she had to endure probably one of the weirdest accusations of her career, bleaching her skin. Did the American tennis legend really bleach her skin?

Fans accused Serena Williams of bleaching her skin

In 2021, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams, posted a picture on her Instagram account, where her face looked unusually bright. After seeing the picture, many fans immediately jumped to the conclusion that the American tennis player had bleached her skin.

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However, many also defended her, as they blamed bad make-up and lighting. After suffering heavy criticism, Serena had to delete that post, and later, she posted a stunning picture that showed her actual skin tone. Interestingly, she did not write a caption in that post.

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Although Serena did not comment on that subject, it looked like that was just a case of bad make-up. Notably, in an interview in 2016, Serena talked about feeling proud of her skin. “I love my body, and I would never change anything about it. I’m not asking you to like my body. I’m just asking you to let me be me. Because I’m going to influence a girl who does look like me, and I want her to feel good about herself,” she said in an interview with SELF Magazine.

Serena’s infamous incident at Indian Wells

From an early age, both Venus and Serena had to face a lot of adversities. In 2001, Venus Williams pulled just four minutes before the semi-final match against her sister Serena. At that time, many fans accused the Williams family of match-fixing. In the final against Kim Clijsters, the crowd heavily jeered Venus and her father Richard Williams, who were there to support Serena. Moreover, the crowd booed Serena as well throughout the match.

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Aside from heavy booing, they also suffered some racist comments, which prompted the Williams sisters to make a unanimous decision to quit Indian Wells for close to one and a half decades. However, in 2015, after almost 14 years, both Venus and Serena made their official return to Indian Wells.