Serena Williams encourages body confidence in her daughter by getting her to compliment other girls.

The 42-year-old tennis champion has Olympia, six, as well as eight-month-old Adira with husband Alexis Ohanian and explained that she wants her children to grow up knowing that it "doesn't matter" what they look like.

She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "For me, it's super important for them to love who they are and whatever they look like. I also foster that positivity by encouraging them to give others compliments, especially other girls compliments. "So if I see a girl in their class, I'm like, 'Oh, she looks pretty, right?' She's like, 'Yeah, I like her hair.' I'm like, 'I like her hair, too.' So just kind of encouraging that, because it doesn't matter what they look like. If you can find something positive about them then you're also going to find something positive about you and then you're gonna win."

The sports legend added that when it comes to her own body image, she is "working towards" a particularly goal but still doesn't consider herself "any different" to anyone else because of her toned physique and insisted that she has the same "struggles" as everyone else.

She added: "I am working towards my goal. I'm gonna fit that skirt soon. No, it's important just to be honest. And I, literally, don't consider myself any different from anyone else. I'm going through the same struggles, but I will fit in that skirt!"

Serena recently opened up about her feelings towards her body in a caption alongside an image of herself dressed in a bikini while holding the tot to her chest.

She said about the snap, shared on Instagram: “I find that I have to remind myself of that self-love through all different stages in my life.

“Right now I love that my body is not picture perfect. I love that I smell like milk – that milk sustains @adiraohanian I love getting to know a new version of my body.”