Relationships Talk

Serena Williams recently appeared on the cover of Allure, and during the accompanying interview, the tennis superstar opened up about her relationship with husband Alexis Ohanian and shared the best dating advice she has received.

The 37-year-old revealed that she was at a point in her life where she was incredibly focused on her career instead of attempting to find love, and that was when she met Ohanian. She went on to say that finding a partner just wasn’t something she spent too much time thinking about. Williams later said that she received one piece of dating advice that has truly stuck with her throughout the years.

“Oprah said, ‘Never let anyone dim your light,’” she said.

“Alexis doesn’t dim my light,” Williams continued, gushing about her husband. “He doesn’t try to dim my light. He puts me in the light, even if I don’t want to be. He pushes me to further points I never thought about.”

She admitted that this has been an issue in some of her past relationships.

“It always was something that I could see in some relationships — my light would be dimmer. Now I feel like I can shine really bright and still do everything that I want to do,” she said.

Williams met the 35-year-old Reddit co-founder in 2015 at the Rome Cavalieri hotel. According to a report from Business Insider, Ohanian tried to sit at a table next to Williams, but the tennis player wasn’t in the mood to have some stranger sitting that close to her and her group of friends.

Williams apparently orchestrated with one of her friends to get rid of the entrepreneur by telling him there were rats at his table. However, that didn’t work and Ohanian ended up sitting next to and chatting up the group of friends. After the initial introductions, he agreed to watch Williams play later that day. In April, 2016, Ohanian said he knew he wanted to marry the tennis star. The couple announced their engagement later that year and welcomed their first child, Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr., on September 1, 2017.

A few months later, the couple tied the knot at Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans. The happy family-of-three now lives in Beverly Hills, California, where Ohanian says he tries to make breakfast for his family every morning.

“It’s something my dad did for me when I was a kid, and it’s something I really enjoy,” he told Us Weekly. “It’s this little ritual, this little routine.”

A new romantic comedy play featuring the national Bard will be coming to Irvine this month.

In The Ghosting of Rabbie Burns, heartbroken author Ariel Winters takes herself away to her aunt’s old cottage in Ayrshire to get over her cheating ex.

As she celebrates Burns night alone,wishing that the right man would show up, she gets a visitation slightly different than she’d hoped for. The ghost of Rabbie Burns appears to give her some dating advice – and he knows what he’s talking about. 

The Ghosting of Rabbie Burns, on Thursday, January 31, features some of the national bard’s best works, such as ‘My Love is Like a Red Red Rose’, ‘Ae Fond Kiss’, ‘Charlie is my Darlin’ and of course ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

Tickets cost £15 (£13 concessions).

I am a young eligible maiden who is trying not to succumb to the social pressures of marriage.

I am well aware that the biological clock is ticking, my mother and aunties remind me of that more frequently than I can count, but I would rather take time to make informed and mature decisions and dodge a bullet, than rush into divorce.

I am such a romance freak and just like many ladies I would like to marry for love and once married I don’t believe in having a way out, unless my life and that of my children is in danger.

I therefore think that as we start the New Year this is a subject to talk about because dating and relationships carry a heavy percentage of our personal development and general well being.

It may seem minor but the weight of this topic in your life will affect your attitude as well as opinions, self esteem and how you feel about the entire year.

Anyway, so as I started thinking about writing this article I thought the best title would be relationship goals, but that would not be ideal because my relationship goals would not be the same as your relationship goals and that is the first mistake we make in relationships today.

I therefore tried to make this article not personal because this segment is all about you faithful readers and all topics must relate to you.

Relationship goals are overrated, especially on social media, and that hashtag #relationshipgoals even though it is quite trendy, it portrays our ignorance about what legit dating and relationships actually mean.

The tag also deceives us to expect the same from our partners. Couples could be fake smiling and cheating on one another as they post those pictures.

I don’t want to mention names because public heartbreaks are so painful and talking about them casually does not do the victims any good, but think out loud of how many celebrity scandals for example came about in the past year after they publicly posted pictures professing their love for one another.

The relationship goal to me is therefore what is behind the scenes, what I cannot see with my naked eyes, how they solve problems and respect one another.

So as I was thinking about the most suitable title, there came my most paramount deal breaker of the year and that is to not be close or associated with anyone who is constantly comparing our relationship to another couple, or comparing me to other ladies e.g. those from his past relationships, while expecting me to act in a certain way or dress in a certain way.

We can also agree in unison that being with an abusive partner, either emotional, physical or sexual crosses out any future prospects for that relationship. I hope that the #MeToo movement that went viral in 2018 and the Surviving R-Kelly documentary that was released earlier this year has taught us enough of how detrimental abusive relationships can be in our lives, how to spot out an abusive partner before it is too late and most importantly the value of speaking out and raising awareness.

Men/women who do not have a career, men/women take no effort to earn a living, men/women not breaking a leg to look for a job or start a business, men/women without a vision for themselves and men/women who move where the wind is sailing meaning they have no standpoint are to be avoided in 2019 and forever.

I was reading a twitter thread recently that was discussing how dangerous it is to merge paths with people with no vision, who have no idea what they want in life and I couldn’t agree more.

Apart from the fact that these people will just be a pest and I don’t mean to be reclusive in any way, but expending energy on such people would be counterproductive.

This takes my train of thought to another level and because I have no answers/advice or any points to ponder on, I am still thinking and researching and I will write about it soon.

I would therefore like to pose these as questions to you: as a highly educated person would you marry a successful individual whose education background does not match yours? Is street smart better than book smart? Is the level of education a deal breaker while dating?

That’s all for now folks, so remember to date smart in 2019 and that you have the freedom to choose your spouse but your children will not enjoy the freedom to choose a father or mother, so choose wisely!

Twitter: @christineamira

How much is too much to spend on a date? For Richard Southers, $65 dollars and no sex is a bad deal.

Southers posted a series of rants about his date gone wrong in the Facebook group “Exclusive 50+/- Social Club DMV Edition.” The page describes itself as “a non-ratchet and friendly group that connects people of the DMV with others with an interest in the DMV.”

In the first post, he described his first date as a “’let’s meet for a couple of drinks’ date got turned into a $65.31 dinner.”

“She didn’t even leave the tip. News flash for you suga. You’re not 29 and hot anymore,” he added.

People responded to his post but were not impressed. One woman responded by saying, “Newsflash…..She went on a date with a lowlife, I’m just sorry it was a cheap first and last date.”

Others followed suit and asked Southers if he made it clear at the beginning the date would be split “dutch.” Many people just called him cheap.

“65 bucks? That must have been his cable bill money,” another Facebook user wrote in the comments. “If 65 burned you stop asking UNHOT OVER 29-YEAR-OLDS OUT FOR DINNER AND DRINKS. Stick with younglins and GROUPON.”

The pressure seems to have gotten to him and he decided to explain himself more. He also revealed the $61.51 receipt from a Fayetteville, North Carolina Ruby Tuesday.

“Guys, Yesterday I made a post about how a lady I met online screwed me (not literally) by hijacking a ‘let’s meet’ event to a dinner with no desert [sic],” he wrote.

“As you can see from the receipt, she ordered the highest item on the menu and STILL made a $2.49 substitution for some damn sweet potatoes fries,” he continued. “HER ACTIONS SHOW ABSOLUTELY NO CONCERN FOR MY WALLET.”

Of course, different people have different dating expectations, and while $65 might be par for the course in major cities, that might not be the case elsewhere. But the idea that paying for dinner entitles someone to sex is antiquated, as some users pointed out.

“I guess this post would have never bn made if you got some ass!! Man go sit in the dryer and I will turn it on,” user Teresa Nelson commented.

“Am I ranting again? Hell yes! Not because of the cost. But because of the low down, sneaky, sly, scheming, conniving, underhanded, unscrupulous, down right deceitful way she hijacked a $15-$25 first meet to a full dinner …. with no desert [sic],” Southers said.

Southers went on to explain he made the date for “Ruby Tuesday’s Salad bar. BUT as soon as her butt hit the chair the salad bar turned into she wanting Ribs and shrimp.”

Then he had some advice for women about reciprocity.

“Just like when a man offers you a ‘back message [sic]’ when he offers to take you to dinner, he’s looking for sex,” Southers explained. “He doesn’t want to give you a back massage any more than he wants to watch you eat. Either that night or in the very near future; he wants sex..”

“When he wants to hang out, he does that with male buddies,” Southers added.

His rant was greeted with tons of appalled memes and a piece of advice from a fellow group member.

“Yeah you should rethink this whole dating thing Richard,” one member wrote.

The post has been shared over a thousand times.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Southers for comment but did not receive a response by press time.