The highly anticipated recently released biographical drama film
King Richard (November 19) directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and written by Zach Baylin, with Will Smith in the title role is garnering rave reviews.
Dishing on the film which follows the life of Richard Williams, father and coach of the legendary tennis players Venus and Serena Williams,( executive producers of the film) and starring Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, and Jon Bernthal, alongside Will Smith, Serena Williams opened up about not being able to hold back tears while watching her late sister Yetunde Price being portrayed on screen. Yetunde Price was murdered in 2003, she was portrayed by actress Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew.
King Richard takes a look at how tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams achieved iconic status after coaching from their father Richard Williams.
During Wednesday’s episode of Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk, Serena opening up said:
“I think I cried the whole time. Whenever she came on film, I just — personally, I just started, like — I mean, even still,” Serena recounted.
Their mother, Oracene Price — who was also part of the Red Table Talk interview — added of Yetunde’s portrayal, “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.”
Yetunde Price, the half-sister of the Williams sisters was a 31-year-old mother of three (children Jeffrey, Justus, and Jair aged 11, nine, and five at the time), a nurse and owner of a hair salon, she also worked as a personal assistant to her tennis superstar half-sisters. (Yetunde’s father was Yusef Rasheed.). She was killed by Southside Compton Crips street gang member Robert Edward Maxfield, on the night of Sept. 14, 2003, shooting her in the back of the head as she sat in a vehicle with her boyfriend in Compton, California. Maxfield allegedly was seeking revenge on a gang when he shot at the vehicle. He was 25 years old at the time of his conviction.
Maxfield was released three years early in 2018 from his 15-year prison term in July due to good behavior after having spent more than a decade behind bars.
Serena and Venus Williams, Oracene Price, gave birth to three other sisters Isha, Lyndrea, and Yetunde Price during her first marriage to Yusef Rasheed
