WNBA player Brittney Griner joined the Phoenix Mercury basketball team in 2013.
She met her wife, Cherelle Griner, while they both attended Baylor University as undergraduate students.
Who is Brittney Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner?
Brittney Griner, 33, married Cherelle Watson, who has since changed her name to Cherelle Griner, in June 2019.
According to her LinkedIn page, Cherelle attended Baylor University from 2010 to 2014 and majored in political science and government while minoring in family and child studies.
She graduated from the North Carolina Central University of Law in May 2022 and shared her accomplishment through an Instagram post.
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"It’s graduation day. Name just got a little longer: Cherelle T. Griner, J.D.," she wrote.
Although Cherelle met Brittney while attending Baylor University in Texas, the couple didn't date until years later after Brittney split from her now ex-wife, Glory Johnson, in 2016.
Brittney proposed to Cherelle in 2018.
They got married a year later, and in a 2020 post on Instagram, Brittney reflected on the first time they met, sharing her love for her wife.
"I will never forget the day I met you at Baylor in the sub area!” Brittney wrote.
“You tapped me on my shoulder and told me I took your milkshake (still up for debate lol) and I was immediately blown away at your beauty!
"You had no idea but I knew you were the one for me baby. You stuck by my side at the lowest and at the highest!”
In April 2024, Brittney and Cherelle posted a surprise announcement on Instagram, sharing they are three months away from the baby's due date.
The upcoming birth of their child will be Griner's third child after she had two in her previous marriage.
She had twins with her ex-wife, Glory Johnson, a fellow WNBA player, in 2015 but they divorced a year later.
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Why was Brittney Griner detained in Russia?
Brittney was detained in Russia when she was passing through security at an airport near Moscow on February 7, 2022.
Airport security found hashish oil in vape cartridges in her bag and accused Brittney of trying to smuggle drugs into the country.
She was previously placed in Moscow jail in February 2022 and was charged with drug smuggling.
Reuters reported on July 7 that Brittney pleaded guilty to the drug charge and said she unintentionally broke the law.
"I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law," Brittney told the judge during the trial.
Brittney appealed to President Joe Biden, asking him to come to her aid and bring her home.
"I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don't forget about me and the other American detainees..." she wrote. "Please do all you can to bring us home."
Biden spoke with Cherelle in a call on July 6, telling her he would work to have her wife released.
The White House said in a statement: "The President called Cherelle to reassure her that he is working to secure Brittney's release as soon as possible, as well as the release of Paul Whelan and other U.S. nationals who are wrongfully detained or held hostage in Russia and around the world."
On December 8, 2022, the basketball star was released from jail in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, officials said.
Was Brittney Griner sentenced?
On August 4, 2022, a Russian court found Brittney guilty of drug possession and smuggling.
During the prosecution's closing arguments, they asked the court to sentence the WNBA star to 9 1/2 years in prison.
Ultimately, she was sentenced to 9 years in prison but had an appeal hearing in October.
A Russian court later upheld the sentence and on November 4, Brittney was moved to a penal colony in Russia.
What did Cherelle Griner say about her wife's situation?
In an interview with CBS, Cherelle previously sat down with Gayle King to discuss her wife's hostage situation at the time.
"I'm like, in no world did I ever thought, you know, our president and a foreign nation's president would be sitting down having to discuss the freedom of my wife," Cherelle told King in her first interview since Griner's sentencing in August.
"And so to me, as much as everybody's telling me a different definition of what BG is, it feels to me as if she's a hostage."
Cherelle even went into depth about her second call with Brittney since she was arrested in February 2022.
"You could hear that she was not okay. If you think about just a person's suffering and when they have suffered to a max…she was at the max that day."
Cherelle previously expressed concern for her wife and said that Brittney was struggling as she awaited freedom.
"I don't know if she has anything left in her tank to continue to wake up every day and be in a place where she has no one," Cherelle said.
A smiling Charelle spoke to the public alongside President Joe Biden at the White House the day the WNBA star was released.
"Today my family is whole, but as you all are aware there is a whole of families who aren't," she said.
The deal between the US and the US leaves American corporate security executive and former Marine Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia in what American officials have called fraudulent charges.
"BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul," Charelle added.
"We do understand there are still people out there who are enduring what I endured the last nine months."
