Serena and Venus Williams may see their dad as a king but my family saw him as a ‘rat b******’ who walked out on my mom
LEGENDARY tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams may view their dad as a "king" but he was a "rat b******" who walked out on my family, their half-sister claims.
Sabrina Williams slammed her estranged father Richard Williams, 79, who is the subject of a new Hollywood movie “King Richard”.
Richard married Sabrina’s late mom Betty Johnson in Los Angeles in the early 1960s.
They had four other children - Richard III, 56, Ronner, 55, Reluss, 54, and Reneeka, 49.
But, when Sabrina was just eight, Richard dumped his wife and five kids – allegedly walking out to buy her a bike but never returned.
Richard married and ’ mom Oracene before they divorced in 2002.
Sabrina told the Sun: “If my mom was still alive, she’d laugh ‘That rat b******’ she had a great sense of humor. She stopped giving a damn about my dad a long time before she died.
“My sister Reeneka was a baby eight weeks old when my dad left. How do you leave a baby? I was eight years old, and he left under the pretense 'I'm gonna get you a bike?' I can laugh about it now."
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The film “King Richard” sees legendary actor Will Smith star as Williams.
It shows how a man with no background in tennis and very limited financial resources, guided his daughters to unprecedented success.
Read our King Richard live blog for the very latest news and updates...
The movie reveals the racism, violence, and hardship the Williams family had to overcome.
Sabrina thinks the title of the movie is “completely over the top”.
She said: “He thinks he's the king of the world, but no one that's ever been around him thinks he's King Richard. It is an outrageous title, but to truth be told, it fits him.
"He's not the king of the world. If you look at him psychologically, it's something he's never achieved apart from in his head - he’s lived only through two of his daughters forsaking all his other children.
"Truth be told, those girls rose to the top while his other children had to suffer because of the choices my dad made, we were raised in poverty after he left.”
Sabrina claimed: "He choose tennis for them, as he knew it could also make him a millionaire."
But in a 2020 interview, she said she isn't bitter about the Williams sisters' rise to sporting fame.
'DIFFICULT UPBRINGING'
Sabrina said she had "two childhoods" - before and after Williams left.
She accused her father of not paying her mom child support, leaving her and her siblings to grow up in poverty.
Sabrina added: "The first was OK because we had money, but the second period was very difficult."
"It was like an instant change. If it wasn't for the churches that we belonged to, I don't think my mom would have made it."
The millionaires' half-sister believes that her father still thinks about his first family.
She said: "I think it's just sad because there's no way that my dad doesn't think about me, or my other brothers and sisters.
"There's just no way in your life that you can put that to the side and not think about it. I feel sympathy for him like, dude, you need to come to terms with this.
"He hasn't forgotten us, he’s just put us in a compartment. You know that part of your world exists, but you just don't want to deal with it - and that's a sad thing.
Sabrina said it’s unlikely she will see her father again and won’t be going to his funeral.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Richard is “incapacitated” and being cared for by his son Chavoita LeSane.
Richard is a victim of two strokes which has left him barely able to talk, .
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He also suffers from a condition that affects his mouth.
LeSane was given the power of attorney and acts as Williams’ interpreter.
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