Serena Williams Reveals Her Breastmilk Helped Treat the Sunburn on Her Face

Serena Williams just served an all-star skincare hack.

The tennis legend—who welcomed her second daughter, Adira River, with husband Alexis Ohanian in August—revealed that she's been using her leftover breastmilk to help heal the sunburn on her face.

"I completely got burned under my eye," Serena detailed in a Dec. 3 TikTok. "I was doing retinol and I have sensitive skin, I was in the sun....long story."

The 42-year-old—who also shares daughter Olympia, 6, with the Reddit co-founder—then grabbed a bottle of breastmilk, shook it up, and began applying it to her under eyes with a tissue.

"It works for my kid," she explained. "They say put breastmilk on everything and I have a lot extra, so I'm gonna try it for a week and see how it goes."

In the caption of her video, Serena offered an update on her beauty experiment. "I have to say," she wrote, "after a week of using my breastmilk under my eye, it worked!"

Serena's findings aren't all that uncommon. After all, there are several perks to using breastmilk as a topical treatment, but there are also important factors to keep in mind.

"Breast milk is rich in nutrients, vitamins and protective anti-bacterial and inflammatory properties," Dr. Sherry Ross, a Los Angeles-based OB/GYN, told E! News in October. "Variables that affect breast milk composition include the health and diet of the person making it, storage and proper hygienic practices."

This isn't the first time the athlete has shared glimpses of her motherhood journey. Last year, Serena opened up about wanting to expand her family and what that meant for her tennis career.

"In the last year, Alexis and I have been trying to have another child," she wrote in an August 2022 essay for Vogue, "and we recently got some information from my doctor that put my mind at ease and made me feel that whenever we're ready, we can add to our family."

She continued, "I definitely don't want to be pregnant again as an athlete. I need to be two feet into tennis or two feet out."

Serena may have retired from tennis, but she's clearly still winning at parenthood.

Of course, Serena isn't the only celebrity to candidly discuss the healing powers of breastmilk. Keep reading to see what other A-listers have said about their breastfeeding experience.

"I think my breastfeeding journey was also very empowering because it was so difficult," Keke told Essence in an interview published Aug. 21. "And I wanted to give up at so many different points, but I just kept pushing myself and kept trying to figure it out."

She added, "The relationship I had with my son during that process empowered me to get back up and do things for myself again."

The Game alum, who shares son Cree, 12, and daughter Cairo, 5, with ex-husband Cory Hardrict, opened up about her struggles with breastfeeding. "When I had Cree, I was struggling to breastfeed him," she wrote in an Aug. 10 Instagram. I was only able to breastfeed for 3 months before having to switch to formula. And during the second time, I found that I was able to breastfeed Cairo for 13 months." 

She continued, "Nonetheless, the journey was difficult...if you are struggling with breastfeeding, I want you to know that it is more than okay to feed your children formula. As long as your children are fed, loved, happy, and supported that's all that matters."

 

The House Bunny actress snapped a photo of herself nursing daughter Louetta, who she shares with musician Derek Richard Thomas, during a family beach day in August 2023.

In a carousel of Instagram pictures, the former Victoria's Secret model shared a photo of herself breastfeeding her and Jason Statham's baby girl, Isabella. 

In May 2022, Ashley Graham shared a photo of herself feeding her twin boys, Malachi Ervin and Roman Ervin, at the same time. She captioned the post, "double fisting (peep the whacky tan lines)."

In March 2021, the Victoria's Secret model shared a pic of herself on Instagram breastfeeding her baby girl, Tuulikki Joan Daly. A couple of hours later, she shared the same photo on her Instagram Story, writing, "Find it interesting the amount of dms I get from men who get offended when you post a photo breastfeeding... Like, why is the most natural thing so offending to you? Breasts literally excists [sic] so we can feed our children [red heart emoji]."

The Twilight star opened up about breastfeeding her 20-month-old daughter Bodhi Soleil Reed Somerhalder in an Instagram post in 2019. "To be honest, I have no idea how long her and I will be on this journey together. I follow her lead, and she tells me exactly what she needs," she wrote.

"little bear," Kehlani tweeted in 2019, along with photos of her and baby Adeya.

 

"On a lighter note.... @acrebaja was bomb," the actress shared on Instagram while kicking off 2019, after welcoming her second child, daughter Banks. 

"Feeding time for the little munchkin," Robin Thicke's girlfriend wrote by a video of her feeding their daughter Mia. 

The actress breastfed son Grey, writing on Instagram in 2017, "BREASTFEEDING=JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE!"

The Hills alum and mom of one told her Instagram followers in 2016 that her sister, Casey Loza, is "always capturing me in moments. #momonthego."

The actress is all smiles as she snaps a selfie of her feeding her little one.

The model mom of two encourages other moms to share #breastfeedingselfie pics.

The Bravo star astutely pointed out in 2016 that "this #breastfeeding stuff is no joke."

The actress shared this photo in honor of daughter Elizabella's first birthday in 2015. "Happy Birthday, my beautiful Elizabella. You've taught me that my heart has no end. You were the missing piece to my soul. Thank you for choosing me," she wrote. 

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