The media is filled with stories about tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams, but it’s a rarity that we hear about their relatives. Unfortunately, a tragic event has put a spotlight on a nephew of the tennis stars and grandson of their father, Richard Williams.
Alphonse Williams, 21, died by suicide earlier this month. His mother, Sabrina Williams, who is Richard’s daughter from his first marriage (and estranged from Richard and her half sisters), told the UK’s The Sun that the manner of death was an overdose on an unknown medication, although his autopsy results haven’t been released yet.
The 57-year-old revealed that a day before his death, Alphonse confided in his dad about his battle with depression. One of the sources of his depression was apparently a recent painful diagnosis of Peyronie’s disease.
“This hit him so hard, he was just about to turn 22, [but] he felt like his life was ending,” Sabrina told The Sun.
“On Monday night [before he died], he said, ‘This is not going to be a life I want to live.'”
In addition to battling depression, Alphonse reportedly also had bipolar disorder. Sabrina shared that the night before she discovered him, she had a sense something was wrong.
“On Thursday night, I thought he was studying and, at nine o’clock, I knocked on his bedroom door and he didn’t answer,” she said. “At the back of my mind, I said, ‘Maybe…’, but then told myself, ‘No, Sabrina, you can’t think like that.’ I just figured he fell asleep.”
She continued, “At four in the morning, I got up, the light was still on. I said, ‘Okay, he’s studying,’ but really, in my mind, I knew he was gone. I just didn’t want to face it,” she said. “At 7:30, I texted, he didn’t answer, I immediately opened the door to his room and he had taken his life that night.”
Sabrina works as a hospice chaplain and has another son, Elijah, who is 23 years old. Her family has been residing in Las Vegas. After her son is laid to rest soon, she wants to help others facing the same struggles with mental health and suicidal thoughts that not only Alphonse but she, herself, experienced.
She tells The Sun, “I miss my baby,” and says, “it’s going to be a mission to reach out to help other people, it will be his legacy.”
“That’s my life goal,” she added. “I have an unconditional desire to help people.”