What Life Is Like For Brittney Griner Today

Brittney Griner has been a longtime powerhouse on the basketball court, but she didn’t become a household name until a trip to Russia on February 17, 2022 changed everything. Griner was headed to play for the country’s UMMC Ekaterinburg team in her off season from the Phoenix Mercury when border security found marijuana vape cartridges in her luggage.

The Texas-born player was immediately arrested at Sheremetyevo International Airport and placed in a detention center. A trial quickly followed, but although she admitted to her mistake and pleaded guilty, she was sentenced to nine years locked away in a penal colony called IK-2. Brittney Griner’s life in prison included squalid living conditions, allegedly abusive guards, and 12 to 16-hour workdays sewing military uniforms.

Griner finally saw freedom 10 harrowing months later when the U.S. succeeded in orchestrating a prisoner swap with Russia. The sports pro touched down on American soil on December 9, 2022 in San Antonio, Texas and was driven to Brooke Army Medical Center where a team of professionals helped ease her return to daily life. While her old normal was gone, Griner chose to seize life and has continued to chase her dreams and pursue her passions. Here’s what life is like for Brittney Griner today.

Over a year after her release from Russia, Brittney Griner agreed to her first sit-down interview. Speaking with Robin Roberts for “20/20” in May 2024, the basketball star went into full detail about the 10 months she spent in Russian custody. “I was just so scared for everything,” she recalled of first hearing her nine-year prison sentence.

After being transferred to the IK-2 penal colony in the Republic of Mordovia (located just over 325 miles east of Moscow), her worst nightmares came true. Her living conditions inside the Russian prison were horrid; her mattress was bloodstained, and she had no access to basic necessities, like soap and toilet paper. “That was the moment where I felt less than a human,” she revealed, telling Roberts she contemplated suicide.

In the weeks that followed, Griner continued to share her story with numerous media outlets. During an interview with The ReidOut, she revealed that, as rough as the conditions were, what truly chipped away at her was thinking about all the family milestones she’d miss. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, my parents might not be here when I get out,'” she said, fighting back tears. “That’s when I started to, like, kind of break internally.” Asked by ESPN if she ever wished people would stop asking about her incarceration, Griner said she didn’t mind but mused, “Hopefully, I get to a point where it just doesn’t spark up the emotions that make me kind of break and crumble.”

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In addition to speaking with reporters at length, Brittney Griner turned her ordeal in Russia into a poignant memoir titled “Coming Home,” which The Washington Post dubbed “a riveting read.” Co-written with Michelle Burford, one of the founding editors of “O, The Oprah Magazine,” the book hit shelves in May 2024 and detailed every aspect of her arrest, incarceration, and eventual homecoming.

While reliving the dramatic experience wasn’t easy, Griner wanted to tell her side of the story so it might help others in a similar situation. As she told ESPN, it was her counselor who actually helped her see the importance of putting pen to paper and holding nothing back. “She was like, ‘Just remember, you’re not writing it for the critics,'” the sports pro shared. “You’re really writing it for the people that are still [being held] overseas.”

Griner wrote about everything from discovering her cellmate was a spy, to how she was stripped and photographed by male guards, to how she relied on a sudoku book and Bible for sanity. Not to mention her need for cigarettes — lots of them. “I smoked so much, the smell came through my pores,” she wrote. As for why she decided to plead guilty, Griner said it was because she realized “kissing the king’s ring was my fastest way to freedom.” “I’d do anything to get home,” she explained.

Five months after her headline-making return home, Brittney Griner had another emotional homecoming — this one on the basketball court. In April 2024, she re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury and began her 11th season with the team in style. That May, the then-nine-time WNBA All-Star played her first game in 579 days as the Phoenix Mercury took on the Los Angeles Sparks at an away game. The LA crowd burst into cheers as Griner entered the arena, giving her a powerful standing ovation. As she expressed to ESPN after the game, getting back to basketball was an unforgettable moment she wasn’t sure she’d get to experience. “I appreciate everything a little bit more,” she mused.

Just days later, Griner was back in Phoenix to play her first home game in 585 days. She fought back tears as the crowd went wild, then put on an incredible performance, ending the game with the most points, rebounds, and blocks. What’s more, Griner also found a new off-season opportunity, as she joined Unrivaled Basketball in October 2024. The 3-on-3 league was founded by WNBA’s Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier with a goal launch date of 2025.

While Brittney Griner was not able to communicate regularly with her wife, Cherelle Griner, following her arrest, the longtime couple exchanged letters whenever they could and Cherelle never stopped petitioning for her wife’s release. “I was hopeless a lot of days,” the attorney admitted to People, but even so, she kept working towards Brittney’s release, even meeting with President Joe Biden on multiple occasions.

Once they were back together following their emotional reunion, the Griners — who met at Baylor University and wed in 2019 — wasted no time moving forward with their relationship plans. In April 2024, Cherelle took to Instagram to reveal their family was growing, writing, “Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being.” 

That July, Griner confirmed to “We Need to Talk” that baby boy Bash had arrived earlier that month and she couldn’t have been happier. “He is amazing,” the sports legend enthused, revealing that her new title was “Pops.” Noting that having to leave to play basketball would be difficult, she spoke of her instant connection with her son, noting, “They say as soon as you see him, everything that you thought mattered just goes out the window and that’s literally what happens.”

Following Brittney Griner’s return to the WNBA, concerns over her safety while traveling became a top priority. She was reportedly given full-time security and approved to take charter flights, but in July 2023, Griner was confronted by YouTuber Alex Stein while she and the team were set to board a normal flight out of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

The right-wing personality, which the WNBA labeled a “provocateur,” asked Griner if she had sex with Vladimir Putin and taunted, “Do you still wanna boycott America?” While security pushed him away, Griner was rattled by the incident and slammed the WNBA’s travel plans, claiming the team wasn’t allowed to use charter flights until after the altercation. “It’s a shame that it had to get to rock bottom [to make a change],'” she said, per ESPN. “When you play the ‘let’s-wait-and-see game,’ you’re really playing with fire; you’re playing with people’s lives.”

Unfortunately, the hate Griner received at the airport wasn’t an isolated incident. As she told ESPN in May 2024, critics started sending her letters after her return home, blaming her for the fact that American Paul Whelan wasn’t included in her prisoner swap. However, that wasn’t the most hurtful rhetoric. “One of the biggest things that really pissed me off, honestly, was being called non-American, and that I hate America,” she shared, noting how her father was a Vietnam War veteran. “If I hated America, I wouldn’t live in America, you know?”

Winning gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics was nothing new for Brittney Griner, as she had already clenched the top spot in women’s basketball at both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games. However, the third time hit different. As the team took to the podium and the U.S. national anthem played, Griner couldn’t hold back her tears.

“My country fought for me to get back and I was able to bring home gold for my country,” she told Sports Illustrated of the emotional moment. “There’s just no greater feeling.” She shared a similar sentiment with Los Angeles Times, explaining, “This gold medal is going to hold a special place amongst the two others I was fortunate to win.”

However, as great as it was to win, Griner was happy to just be able to take part. The competition marked her first time traveling outside of the U.S. since her incarceration. Speaking at a press conference before leaving for Paris, she mused, per ESPN, “My overseas career didn’t really end the way I wanted it to, so this is kind of a way for me to kind of do that on my own terms.”

When Brittney Griner first got word of her release, she was certain that Paul Whelan would be freed alongside her. As she got on the airplane that would take her to safety, she waited to see the U.S. Marine and was as shocked as anyone that he wasn’t included in the prison swap. “When I walked on and I didn’t see him, I was like, ‘Okay, maybe I’m early, maybe he’s next,'” she told Robin Roberts. “When they closed the door, I was like, ‘Are you seriously not gonna let this man come home right now?'”

Not surprisingly, when Griner learned of Whelan’s eventual release (alongside Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich) in August 2024, she was thrilled. “It’s a great day,” she said while competing at the Paris Games, per USA Today. “I’m head over heels happy for the families right now.”

Griner followed that up with an official statement from her and wife Cherelle, which they posted to Instagram, enthusing, “We are overwhelmed with joy and relief for the four U.S. citizens who returned safely to America today.” However, they also underscored that the fight wasn’t over. “We must continue to do everything we can to shine a light on the remaining Americans detained,” the couple added.

The WNBA had a record-setting season in 2024, as it experienced a huge boost in viewership and the highest attendance to live games in over two decades. Unfortunately, that growth in popularity also meant a growth in negativity. Numerous players and coaches spoke out against the mounting hatred, including Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas who claimed, per NBC Connecticut, “I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base.”

Brittney Griner was also a regular target, and she wasn’t afraid to clap back at new fans acting like trolls. “I don’t appreciate the new fans that sit there and yell racial slurs at myself, my teammates, and the people that I play against,” she told the media in a clip posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “Yeah, those might be opponents, but those are friends too.”

Ultimately, the negative rhetoric became so incessant that the WNBA was forced to release a statement on the matter, writing on X, “While we welcome a growing fan base, the WNBA will not tolerate racist, derogatory, or threatening comments.”

Brittney Griner has been crowned a WNBA All-Star an impressive 10 times, as of 2024, but her skills on the court haven’t always been without controversy. In September 2024, for example, as the Phoenix Mercury took on the Los Angeles Sparks, Griner appeared to accidentally hit opponent Rickea Jackson in the face with her arm. As Jackson pushed Griner away, a heated argument broke out, and referees needed to separate the fighting duo. Both players were eventually ejected from the game, and while their behavior wasn’t appropriate, it certainly didn’t merit the vitriol that soon flooded social media.

As Griner sat in her team’s locker room, she saw haters mocking her detainment in Russia in the comments section of an Instagram video posted by OvertimeWBB, which showed her altercation with Jackson. She decided to respond in real time, telling one critic who claimed she wasn’t so fierce in Russia, “And yo a** would of been someone b****.” When another blatantly wrote, “That’s it back to Russia you go,” Griner slammed, “Come and get me then!”