Serena Williams Gets Real Trying on Too-Tight Valentino Skirt: 'Houston, We Got a Problem'

Serena Williams has a fashion-focused mission.

In a new Instagram Reel shared on Sunday, Williams, 42, opened up about wanting to fit into a denim skirt that she purchased while pregnant with her second child, 5-month-old Adira River, who was born in August 2023.

"I got this cool Valentino skirt when I was pregnant and I was like 'I'm gonna be able to fit this when I don't have a belly,' " the athlete, 42, told the camera in the clip, which was filmed while she stood in front of a bathroom mirror.

"I can't fit it," she confessed before proceeding to pull the skirt on.

"But this is my goal. Honestly, I should've been able to fit it by now, but I ran into some, um . . . I got distracted for about a month," she continued. Williams said she's now about a month behind in reaching her goal as she turned around to show the mirror that the skirt won't fit over her bottom.

"Houston, we got a problem," she laughed.

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But the tennis star said she won't give up on trying to fit into the designer denim. "I feel like if I go to the gym and get fit, I'll be able to fit it in a month?" Williams asked viewers rhetorically, making a funny face to convey she wasn't confident in her timeline.

The last frame of the video included an image of the clothing with text letting her followers know that the skirt was going back in a drawer — "for now."

The mom of two captioned the video "The Diary of a Denim skirt (part 1) #valentino."

Earlier this week, the retired tennis champion shared a clip of herself in the gym doing barbell squats. "I'm getting back into the swing of things," she said.

Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian announced the birth of Adira on Instagram last summer, with Ohanian writing, "I'm grateful to report our house is teaming [sic] with love: a happy & healthy newborn girl and happy & healthy mama. Feeling grateful. @serenawilliams you've now given me another incomparable gift — you're the GMOAT."

Adira's big sister is the couple's daughter Alexis Olympia, 6.