What Brittney Griner's Wife Cherelle Really Does For A Living
Brittney Griner's incarceration in Russia was one of the biggest stories of 2022. Luckily, Griner was freed in the end, but her situation seemed dire. Back in February 2022, the Phoenix Mercury center was detained by Russian officials on drug charges. She was playing for the Russian Premier League basketball team UMMC Ekaterinburg in her off-season from the Phoenix Mercury and was then held in Russia for 10 months, or 264 days.
During this whole time, her wife Cherelle Griner was working hard at home to bring awareness to Brittney's situation. At the October 2022 Glamour Women of the Year Awards, Cherelle gave a speech where she talked about the last year without her wife. "I've spent the last eight months riding waves of grief and to be honest, just total disbelief," she said. Cherelle continued, "I can't believe that I'm standing in front of you guys today, living without my favorite person, my greatest love, biggest support, and just sanctuary." Through it all, though, Cherelle Griner was hopeful. And it paid off when Brittney Griner came back to America in a prisoner exchange, with the United States returning arms dealer Viktor Bout to Russia. With all that, here's what Cherelle Griner, Brittney Griner's wife, does for a living.
Cherelle Griner is a former teacher and just got a law degree
Brittney Griner and Cherelle Griner are (sort of) college sweethearts. The two met while they were both studying at Baylor University between 2010 and 2014, but didn't start dating until after Brittney's first marriage to fellow WNBA player, Glory Johnson, ended in 2016. Griner then proposed to Cherelle in 2018. Even though they didn't start dating in college, Griner remembers their first meeting perfectly. She posted in 2020 on Instagram about that day, which she'll "never forget."
While at Baylor, Cherelle majored in political science and government and minored in family and child studies. According to her LinkedIn profile, Cherelle went on to become a teacher. But in May 2022, she graduated from the North Carolina Central University of Law and now wants to use that degree, and her experience with Brittney's detainment, to better the world. "I realized how voiceless the issue is," she told People, continuing, "I was 29 when Brittney was detained, and that's when I found out that it was even a real thing. That shouldn't be the case. I should have known about that before, which means we need more voices around this issue. My story came full circle. But there's so many other Americans, their story is not full circle. And so it's changed everything about what I thought I was going to do career-wise."
Brittney Griner came home after 10-month Russian detainment
As People reported, Brittney Griner was held in Russian detainment for 264 days. During this time, she had some communication with her wife, Cherelle, but as she said during the Glamour Women of the Year Awards, the Phoenix Mercury player was losing steam and hope. You could hear that she was not okay," Cherelle said of the second phone call the two shared while Brittney was in Russia. She said, "If you think about just a person's suffering and when they have suffered to a max ... She was at the max that day." She then called that "the most disturbing phone call [she'd] ever experienced."
Again, Brittney was stopped at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, while playing for a popular Russian basketball league. Russian authorities charged her with smuggling illegal drugs and sentenced her to nine years in a Russian prison colony. Cherelle told People that "it was almost as if somebody just punched you in the stomach and you inhaled." She said that she was "hopeless a lot of days" while Brittney was detained. "You try and stay grounded, but I'm human. Still, I would never completely give up hope on my wife's life." Brittney Griner did come home in December and Cherelle said they were both "just instantly crying." Cherelle said, "I was standing there full of tears and someone ran over and handed me a handkerchief. I definitely needed it."