"This used to be the hardest day for me": Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian opens up about his mother's death 16 years ago & how it impacted him

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian recently opened up about his mother's death 16 years ago and explained how it affected him and gave him a new purpose.

Ohanian's mother, Anke, was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an untreatable brain tumor in 2005 shortly after he co-founded Reddit. She passed away in March 2008 at the age of 54.

On March 16, the tech entrepreneur shared on his X (formerly Twitter) account how he used to feel sad every year on his mother's death anniversary. Ohanian also talked about how this experience led him to create something meaningful: the 776 Foundation in 2022, which he believes his mother would have been very proud of if she were still alive.

"My mom died 16 years ago today," Ohanian wrote. "This used to be the hardest day of the year for me (Ides of March, go figure) and then 3 years ago I started my family foundation — and found a new meaning to this day — one that I know she'd have been proud of."

Serena Williams' husband then revealed that he has already donated several million dollars out of the $20 million he pledged to support young people making significant efforts to combat climate change via the foundation.

"I've given away a few million dollars so far ($20M committed!) to young people taking BIG swings to BUILD and FIGHT climate change. And we're going to open up our global application here again soon for the third batch of 20 fellows," Alexis Ohanian wrote.

"I hope you'll apply (or encourage someone to!) so please drop your email in here either way: http://776.org. And shoutout to the intrepid , our fellowship director, who makes this all happen!" he added.

---

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian thinks TikTok should be "American-owned"

The power couple pictured at the Leagues Cup 2023: Cruz Azul v Inter Miami CF

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, recently reacted to the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bill targeting the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance, on March 13. The bill proposes banning the short video app in the country if it fails to cut ties with its parent company.

Ohanian weighed in on the matter yesterday and said that he believes TikTok should be owned by Americans.

"I don't think it should be banned, I think it should be sold. Who knows, maybe Walmart ends up buying it...Amazon... I don't know," Alexis Ohanian said.

"I know A&E trust has come up a lot recently for some pretty silly M&A like Facebook trying to buy Giphy. But, there are plenty of folks who are very interested in buying TikTok who are not already part of the social media tech elite, who would be great candidates. I hope that's the outcome we get because it should be American-owned," he added.