--- title: Meghan Markle and Serena Williams Text Each Other Support description: Serena Williams revealed that she and Meghan Markle are text buddies, and have plenty in common thanks to their roles in the spotlight. canonical: https://time.com/5404581/serena-williams-on-meghan-markle/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-24T16:03:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:55:12.828Z og:title: Meghan Markle and Serena Williams Text Each Other Support og:description: Williams revealed that she and Markle have been "relying on each other" og:url: https://time.com/5404581/serena-williams-on-meghan-markle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd87bf5622c161fe3/69893b00ab6d77610f6b3c29/serena-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3848 og:image:height: 2165 og:image:alt: The Imagine Ball Honoring Serena Williams Benefitting Imagine LA Presented By John Terzian & Val Vogt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meghan Markle and Serena Williams Text Each Other Support twitter:description: Williams revealed that she and Markle have been "relying on each other" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd87bf5622c161fe3/69893b00ab6d77610f6b3c29/serena-williams.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meghan Markle and Serena Williams Are Supportive Friends Who Text > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b6a06ba3-e0e4-4709-8237-455bdecb2b4d&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: FIRSTS Serena Williams [Watch (HLS stream): FIRSTS Serena Williams](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qRrT89Xb.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2017-09-02. Serena Williams is the FIRST tennis player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 24, 2018 4:03 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 24, 2018 4:03 PM UTC We know [Serena Williams](http://time.com/5398085/serena-williams-us-open-controversy-comments/) and [Meghan Markle](http://time.com/5404587/meghan-harry-coach-core/) are friends: after all, the tennis superstar received one of the coveted, exclusive invites to the Duchess of Sussex’s [royal wedding](http://time.com/5290264/victoria-beckham-gushes-royal-wedding/) this spring. But it turns out they’re the kind of pals who send each other supportive text messages regularly, too; this isn’t just a friendship for show. “We have known each other for a long time, but we really kind of are relying on each other right a lot recently,” Williams told Australian news outlet[ _The Sunday Project_](https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1043799533262594048) in an interview. She added: “We were actually just texting each other this morning.” (The interview was filmed three days after the U.S. Open, in which Williams finished second, falling in the final round to [Naomi Osaka](http://time.com/5391283/naomi-osaka-williams-tennis/) and sparking a [controversial](http://time.com/money/5391659/serena-williams-rules-violation-fine/) debate about sexism in tennis and on the court.) Markle is known to be a fan of Williams’s playing; she [watched her friend](http://time.com/5338218/meghan-markle-wimbledon/) compete against Angelique Kerber at the Wimbledon final this year. Meanwhile, Williams also recently had Markle’s back to support her charity cookbook project, [sharing a post](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn0-RaOh-Zv/?taken-by=serenawilliams) about the cookbook on Instagram and shouting out her pride for Markle’s work. With both women front and center in the public eye this year, it’s no wonder they’ve got each other’s backs whenever they can. ## Transcript People will look at you and they'll try and define you. Whether you're a woman, whether you're young, they'll try and cabin off what you're able to do. But people can only do that if you let them and so I always viewed my job as defining myself >> If we are in a meeting we're there for a reason, not to just sit there and absorb. If you are only there not speaking you kind of create the impression that you're not prepared to be there. You need to participate and you need to know what you're talking about. You can ask a man to do a job that he's never been qualified to do and he will raise his hand and say, absolutely, I will do that job. Women always say, I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, More experience. I don't necessarily know if there's anything wrong with being more cautious and careful. I mean why have we come to decide that being brash and overly aggressive should be the way we are. But we should also know that we're not going to feel any wiser or any more ready in ten years than we did ten years ago. So we might as well just leave. There is a lot of perception of, My gosh, it's really hard because of the gender. What are you gonna do about that, just not do it? If you want to do something, you just do it, and then hope that people catch up to you. For girls that are going to be playing little league, anything could happen. You could be up by 10 runs, and you can loose the game. So stay focused, make sure you play as a team, and hopefully you hit a home run, because no girl has ever hit a home run, and I'll be cheering for you. You'll never make everyone happy, so you just have to be exactly who it is that you are, and at least know that you've been true to yourself. It's about attitude, aptitude, and opportunity. Who knew I would be here? But it all started with folks that thought I had a good attitude. That put me in places that challenged me and then provided me opportunities because I met and exceeded the standard. You often don't realize, people want you to succeed, and they often have very good solutions, both practical and in terms of thinking of opportunities for you. And the other thing is, I think it's not too bad Periods of great intensity doing one thing or the other. Meryl Streep once said, " Every successful woman's life has its ebbs and flows ." Know your power, know the power of your intellect, of your values and commitment, the courage that you have, and don't let anybody trivialize How you have spent your years. All of them have contributed to making a very unique and special person. Just take joy, don't let anyone discourage you from that thing that you love the most. It's more about making life. 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