Brittney Griner’s Wife Says She’s Not Okay After Call from Russian Prison

Cherelle Griner has appearing on CBS Mornings Thursday where she told co-host Gayle King that her wife, WBNA star Brittney Griner, is not okay,

Griner was arrested in Russia for drug possession in February and remains in a Russian prison ahead of an appeal hearing on Oct. 25. 

The first conversation Cherelle said, “It was just so delightful just to hear her voice.”

But after the second phone call, she said, “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. It’s just the most still, I think, moment I’ve just ever shared with my wife. I didn’t have words.”

Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in August.

Cherelle is hoping a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia happens before the upcoming hearing. A recent meeting at the White House reassured her that President Biden is fighting alongside her.

Cherelle said that, “Once that hearing is held, and the order is finalized, B.G.’s now in the position where she could be moved to a labor camp My brain can’t even fathom it. 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. She’s, like, saying things to me like, ‘My life just don’t even matter no more.’ You know, ‘I feel like my life just doesn’t matter. Like, I’m just being tossed around, like, for people’s enjoyment and gain.'”

The White House said it has a substantial deal on the table, and has urged Russia to consider it, or bring a strong counteroffer.

Watch the interview below.