While the support of Brittney Griner's wife, lawyer Cherelle, kept the Phoenix Mercury star lifted during her time in a Russian labor camp, she almost thought that the two would divorce.
In her new memoir, Coming Home, Griner recounted fears about her wife wanting to leave the relationship, as Griner was sentenced to nine years before she was released in a prison exchange in December 2022. In an excerpt of the book, exclusively shared by People, Griner imagined that while detained, she'd lose opportunities and that her wife, whom she affectionately refers to as "Relle," would have wanted to end the marriage.
"My basketball career would be over. I’d be in my early forties and out of shape, would have to find a new way to provide for my wife. And Relle. She assured me she’d wait, but ten years was ridiculous," Griner wrote.
"I went through so many emotions being locked up, and just thinking about nine years,” she continued. “We planned on having kids, and doing all these amazing things together, and now I'm thinking, ‘Is that going to happen? How can I ask her to wait?’"
After receiving the guilty verdict, Griner even gave Cherelle permission to seek a divorce, which her wife rebuffed. "I gave her an out," Griner explained. "But she was basically like, ‘What? Stop it. Don’t you ever say that.’"
"It was just emotion,” she continued. “I got scared for a minute. When you’re in that predicament, the first thing that comes to mind is not good. You see women get those [goodbye] letters [in prison] and break down in tears."
Cherelle remained in Griner's corner, advocating for her release in 2022 with the help of President Joe Biden, who oversaw the prison swap.
