Who is Cherelle Griner wife Cherelle Griner?
Brittney Griner, 32, married Cherelle Watson, who has since changed her name to Cherelle Griner, in June 2019.
According to her LinkedIn page, Cherelle attended Baylor University between 2010 and 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 accomplishments through an Instagram post.
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.
“I will never forget the day I met you at Baylor in the sub area!” Brittney wrote.
“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!”
Why is 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 has been in a Moscow jail since February 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.
She added, “I’d like to give my testimony later. I need time to prepare.”
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.
Brittney Griner, #42 of the Phoenix Mercury, talks to the media after Game One of the 2021 WNBA Finals on October 10, 2021
Was Brittney Griner sentenced?
On Thursday, August 4, 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
If the US cannot negotiate a deal to secure her release, Brittney will have to serve nine years in prison.
What has Cherelle Griner said about her wife’s situation?
In an interview with CBS, Cherelle sat down with Gayle King to discuss her wife’s hostage situation.
“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.
“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 worries for her wife and added that Brittney is struggling as she awaits her 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.
