"My nose was broken, my teeth were knocked out" - When Serena Williams' father Richard spoke on his body bearing 'reminders' of his violent childhood

Serena Williams' father Richard Williams once shared an emotional account of the violence he endured during his childhood. He revealed how the brutality was rooted in racism from the white people in his hometown.

Before Richard Williams became renowned for coaching his daughters, Venus and Serena Williams, to become two of the greatest players in history, he had a difficult life growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana. Living in extreme poverty while being raised by a single mother, Williams has confessed that he resorted to "stealing" produce from white people so he could sell it at his farm stand.

In his memoir 'Black and White: The Way I See It,' Richard Williams gave a deeply personal look into his difficult life, describing how commonplace "hatred" was in Shreveport. The American disclosed that he frequently found himself having to run away from white people chasing him with sticks, guns, and chains.

"Hatred fueled Shreveport. I often had to run from whites who tried to beat me up. I was chased with a stick, a bat, guns, and chains," Serena Williams' father said.

Serena Williams' father also shared that his body bore many scars from his violent childhood, recounting how his nose was broken several times and his teeth were knocked out. Richard further divulged that members of the Ku Klux Klan once stabbed him in his leg, which caused him to walk with a limp even as an adult.

"My body had a lot of reminders of the violence I knew as a child. My nose was broken three times and my teeth were knocked out. I limp to this day because, as a child, I was stabbed in the leg with a railroad spike and an ice pick by members of the Ku Klux Klan," he added.

Richard Williams once retaliated for the cruelty he faced by enacting a "quick and vicious" attack on a white farmer and his son while wearing a KKK uniform he had stolen. He admitted that the assault was prompted by his desire to "pay back anybody" for everything he had endured.

Serena Williams' father Richard Williams: "As a child, I struggled to understand why my father didn’t love me"

Serena Williams with her father Richard - Source: Getty

Serena Williams' father Richard Williams was forced to deal with his father abandoning him, his mother, and four younger sisters when he was very young. In his memoir, the American shed light on how difficult he found it to understand why his father didn't love him enough to be around.

Richard also confessed that such thoughts impacted his mindset and relationships even as an adult, regardless of how much he was respected.

"As a child, I struggled to understand why my father didn’t want me and why he didn’t love me. Even now, those questions remain, and I am rarely comfortable with people, or within myself, regardless of the respect I have gained," he said.

However, he acknowledged that being abandoned by his own father made him more determined to step up and take care of his mother and sisters.