The wife of WNBA superstar Brittney Griner sobbed while conveying acute fearfulness for her wife’s safety while she’s confined in a Russian jail.
Just as daunting for Charelle Griner is the type of person that she will see when Brittney Griner finally returns home after four months in a Russian jail. Just when the Phoenix Mercury will be released is subject to endless guessing and speculation as the Biden administration intensifies negotiation efforts.
Russian officials said that Griner has been in confinement and facing 10 years in prison after a police canine allegedly detected traces of cannabis oil in a vaping cartridge packed in her luggage at the airport in Moscow. Griner has been in custody since February 2022.
Cherelle Griner shared how her personal horror unfolded after her wife initially broke the news about the detainment via a text message.
“I first heard the news through Brittney, actually,” she told “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts. “She started texting me around 2 a.m. that morning [saying], ‘Babe, babe, babe, wake up, they have me in this room, I don’t know what’s going on.’ ”
Paralyzed with panic in the middle of the night, Cherelle Griner immediately texted Brittney Griner back.
“So I instantly text back: ‘Who are they and what room?’ And she’s like, ‘The customs people, they just grabbed me as I was going through and they have me in this room.’ [Then] she sent me a message and said, ‘They’re about to take my phone, don’t text anymore.’ So I’m like, ‘Just call me when you can.’ That was it.”
Cherelle Griner then added, “We’re what, 96 days [later]? And the phone call never came.”
She said that, despite not hearing her voice in over 100 days, the couple have communicated “sporadically” through letters.
“[Brittney] wrote me one letter and was like, ‘Babe, I know you wanna go down right now but like, don’t just yet,’ ” Cherelle Griner recalls.
“I won’t go down until she’s back. Every single day matters for me to be sound, for me to be alert, for me to be attentive, to make sure that she comes back,” she said.
Cherelle Griner understands that Brittney Griner is being used as a political pawn in this international game of intrigue between two superpower countries. Her worst fear, however, is that Brittney Griner may have been irrevocably damaged and changed from this terrifying experience.
“I don’t know [if I feel that she’s top priority]. I was grateful for the call [from Senator Blinken]. But you say she’s top priority. I want to see it. And I feel like to see it would be me seeing [Brittney] on U.S. soil,” Cherelle Griner said.
“At this point, I don’t even know who I’m getting back when she comes back,” she said.
Watch the interview below.
"Every single day matters … to make sure that she comes back."
Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA superstar Brittney Griner, who has been detained in a Russian prison for nearly 100 days, speaks to @robinroberts about the fight to bring her home. https://t.co/A7bpCs5jQp pic.twitter.com/Yv8GFk5hfW
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 25, 2022
