Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle Griner, are expecting!
The couple announced the news in a joint post to their Instagram accounts over the weekend, revealing that their "favorite human being" is almost due.
“Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,” the couple wrote, alongside the hashtags #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner, center for the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested in Russia in February 2022, when she arrived in the country to play for a Russian team during the WNBA off-season. She had a vape cartridge in her luggage with less than one gram of cannabis-derived oil, which is illegal in the country.
Griner was tried on drug charges, convicted, and sentenced to nine years in prison. She was freed from a labor camp on December 8, 2022, after intense negotiations by the Biden administration.
Griner is now releasing a memoir about her life and detention, Coming Home, on May 7. She has since said she won’t play overseas again unless it’s in the Olympics.
Griner was recently honored by her alma mater, Baylor University, which retired her NCAA jersey number 42 in February. Though the Baptist university didn't always support her — in her 2014 book, Griner criticized the school’s willingness to “benefit from the success of their gay athletes. That is, as long as those gay athletes don’t talk about being gay.” She would not come out publicly until after leaving the school.
Griner met her wife, Cherelle, at Baylor "in the sub area" of a school cafeteria. Griner shared the story in one Instagram post where she said that Cherelle "tapped me on my shoulder and told me I took [her] milkshake (still up for debate lol) and I was immediately blown away at [her] beauty!"
"You had no idea but I knew you were the one for me baby," Griner wrote. You stuck by my side at the lowest and at the highest!"
The two got engaged in August 2018 and married almost a year later on June 18, 2019. Five years later, their first child will be arriving. Here's to the happy couple!