King Richard will hit theaters and HBO Max on Friday. The film, which is about Venus and Serena Williams, takes a look at their entire family, including their older sister Yetunde Price who was murdered in 2003. The Williams family appeared on the Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk to discuss the film and reacted to seeing Price being portrayed by actress Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew.
“Oh, I think I cried the whole time. Whenever she came on film, I just—personally, I just started, like—I mean, even still,” Serena said. Their mother, Oracene Price, was also on Red Table Talk and shared her thoughts on Yetunde’s portrayal.
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“It was a quiet moment I think. ‘Cause we know how it was, and then how it—you know, it just—it was just something that you kind of try and put in the back of your mind and don’t want to remember,” Oracene said. Venus loved that Yetunde showed her support virtually before anyone else did.
“She loved to have fun too,” Venus said. “She knew how to have fun. She was original Team V. Before there was a Team V, she was Team V.” Yetunde was shot and killed on Sept. 14, 2003, in Compton, California by Robert Edward Maxfield who was a member of the Southside Crips gang. He allegedly opened fire with an assault weapon on Price’s SUV with her boyfriend driving as they traveled near a suspected drug house. According to prosecutors, the shooting was in relation to who Maxwell thought was a gang member.
Maxwell pleaded no contest in 2006 to voluntary manslaughter. He was charged with murder but accepted the lesser count before his third trial. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April 2006, according to the Los Angeles Times. Maxwell was paroled in March 2018. To honor Yetunde, her siblings opened the Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton, California in 2016. She was 31 years old at the time of her death.
In King Richard, Will Smith stars as Richard Williams, the father of Venus and Serena who coaches them to be tennis superstars. Richard Williams’ vision led to Venus and Serena becoming tennis legends, winning a combined 30 Grand Slam singles titles and 14 Grand Slam Doubles titles.
