The biopic King Richard of Venus and Serena Williams’ father Richard Williams played by Will Smith has gotten rave reviews since its release two weeks ago and has done well at the box office but everyone is not impressed with the feature.
Venus and Serena’s older half sister Sabrina Williams said the biopic only told half of his life but he wasn’t a king to her and her siblings. Sabrina Williams, 57, told The Sun that Richard Williams abandoned his first family with her mother, the late Betty Johnson.
Sabrina claims that she was 8 and her younger sister was 8 weeks old when Richard Williams claimed he was leaving the house to buy her a bike. According to her, he never returned and went on to make a new life with his second wife, Oracene Williams, Venus and Serena’s mother. Sabrina claims she has only seen her father a few times since then and the relationship has been strained ever since.
Richard and Betty married in the early 1960s and had five children: Sabrina, Richard III, 56, Ronner, 55, Reluss, 54, and Reneeka, 49.
“It’s a comedy, no? How can you make a movie by telling half the story? It suddenly starts with dad and his new wife Oracene and their children. It’s like nothing happened before. I think the title is completely over the top. 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,” explained Sabrina.
In the film, Richard’s first family is briefly mentioned but it shows him raising Venus and Serena as well as Oracene’s daughters from her first marriage, Yetunde, Lyndrea and Isha.
Continue reading on the following page.
