The wife of Brittney Griner said “today is a happy day” now that the WNBA star has been released from a Russian penal colony, capping a monthslong ordeal that began in February.
"Over the last nine months, you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life, and so today I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions," Cherelle Griner said during a press conference on Dec. 8 at the White House alongside President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whom she thanked, among others, for negotiating her wife's release in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The basketball star was taken into custody earlier this year after Russian authorities said they found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage; she was later imprisoned on drug charges. Cherelle Griner has been vocal about getting her wife home, as have fellow WNBA players and the sports world at large.
Brittney Griner is currently on a flight to San Antonio, where she will get medical care and be reunited with her wife.
Cherelle Griner thanked a host of other people, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. She also said the support of her wife's team, the Phoenix Mercury, and her agent, Lindsay Kagawa Colas of the Wasserman agency, made a burdensome time feel easier.
"Today my family is whole," Cherelle Griner added. “As you all are aware, there’s so many other families who are not whole."
The U.S. originally sought to bring Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, another American in Russian custody, home in a package deal. Whelan has been jailed in Russia since December 2018 on charges of espionage, which both he and the U.S. government have denied. Russia would only accept a deal for him that included the release of a Russian spy in U.S. custody, according to NBC News. The U.S. has said it does not have any Russian spies in custody to offer, according to NBC News.
"BG’s not here to say this," Cherelle Griner said at the press conference, referencing her wife, "but I will gladly speak on her behalf and say that BG and I will remain committed to the work of getting every American home, including Paul, whose family is in our hearts today. As we celebrate BG being home, we do understand that there are still people out here who are enduring what I endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones.”
"Thank you everybody for your support," she added, "and today is just a happy day for me and my family, so I’m going to smile right now."
