Meet Cherelle Watson, Wife Of Basketball Star Brittney Griner
In 2013, WNBA player Brittney Griner became a member of the basketball team for the Phoenix Mercury.
While both of them were undergraduate students at Baylor University, she met her wife, Cherelle Griner.
Who is Cherelle Griner, the wife of Brittney Griner?
In June 2019, Brittney Griner, 33, wed Cherelle Watson, who then became Cherelle Griner.
Cherelle attended Baylor University from 2010 to 2014, focusing on political science and government with a minor in family and child studies, according to her LinkedIn page.
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In May 2022, she received her law degree from North Carolina Central University and celebrated with an Instagram picture.
“It’s graduation day. Name just got a little longer: Cherelle T. Griner, J.D.,” she wrote.
Despite the fact that Cherelle had known Brittney when she was a student at Texas’ Baylor University, the two didn’t start dating until after Brittney’s 2016 divorce from her now ex-wife, Glory Johnson.
In 2018, Cherelle accepted Brittney’s proposal.
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After a year of marriage, Brittney shared her love for her wife on Instagram in 2020 and reminisced about their first meeting.
“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!
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Brittney and Cherelle revealed on Instagram in April 2024 that they are three months away from the baby’s due date in an unexpected revelation.
Griner has two children from her previous marriage, thus the impending birth of their child will be her third.
She and fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson got divorced a year after she gave birth to twins with her former spouse in 2015.
Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia; what happened?
In the vicinity of Moscow, Brittney was arrested on February 7, 2022, while going through security at an airport.
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Brittney was charged with attempting to smuggle drugs into the nation after airport security discovered hashish oil in vape cartridges in her backpack.
She had been charged with narcotics smuggling and had previously been jailed in Moscow in February 2022.
Brittney admitted to the drug accusation and said that she had inadvertently broken the law, according to a July 7 Reuters story.
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“I’d like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn’t want to break the law,” During the trial, Brittney told the court.
President Joe Biden received an appeal from Brittney pleading with him to rescue her 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.”
On July 6, Biden called Cherelle and promised to work toward her wife’s release.
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In a statement, the White House stated: “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.”
According to officials, the basketball player was freed from prison on December 8, 2022, in exchange for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, a one-for-one swap.
Was Brittney Griner given a prison term?
Brittney was found guilty of cocaine possession and smuggling by a Russian court on August 4, 2022.
In their final arguments, the prosecution requested that the court sentence the WNBA player to nine and a half years in jail.
She received a 9-year prison sentence in the end, but in October, there was an appeals hearing.
Later, on November 4, Brittney was sent to a Russian prison colony when a Russian court upheld the sentence.
How did Cherelle Griner respond to the circumstances surrounding her wife?
Previously, Cherelle had a conversation with Gayle King about her wife’s hostage situation in an interview with CBS.
“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,” In her first interview with King following Griner’s imprisonment in August, Cherelle said.
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“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.”
Even more detailed was Cherelle’s second conversation with Brittney following her detention 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.”
In the past, Cherelle has shown worry for her spouse and mentioned that Brittney was having difficulties waiting for her independence.
“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.
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On the day of the WNBA star’s release, a beaming Charelle addressed the public at the White House alongside President Joe Biden.
“Today my family is whole, but as you all are aware there is a whole of families who aren’t,” she said.
Paul Whelan, an American corporate security officer and former Marine, is now detained in Russia under an agreement struck between the US and Russia based on what US authorities have described as false accusations.
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“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.”
