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Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, is growing concerned about the NBA player’s mental health after a Russian court rejected her request for a reduced prison sentence last month.
Cherelle Griner told the co-hosts of ABC’s The View on Tuesday that her wife was struggling the last time they spoke.
“He said to me, ‘I’m really trying to hold on to the last bit of you that I can remember, you know?’ Cherelle Griner said. “It’s like, ‘My mind is fading in here.’ And you know, it’s so disappointing to hear that.”
Brittney Griner was arrested at Moscow airport in February after officials claimed to have discovered vapor cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The basketball star was in Russia to play with the Russian Premier League during the WNBA offseason.
Cherelle Griner’s interview Tuesday marked some of her first comments since Brittney Griner’s nine-year sentence on drug-trafficking charges was upheld last week.
“Honestly, it was just disappointing. It was a complete disbelief for me,” Cherelle Griner said. “I mean, I understand, in the field of law, you know, every state, every country has its own rules. But that’s just absurd.”
Now, Cherelle Griner continues to hope the US government can secure a prisoner exchange to bring her wife home.
“And so at this point, that was the complete end. There’s nothing more to look forward to from a legal standpoint,” he said. “And all the eggs are now in one basket for our government and America to see how important this issue is because this could happen to anyone.”
Negotiations between the US and Russia have seemingly stalled since the Biden administration said in August it had offered to exchange Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, a former Marine also held illegally in Russia for nearly four years, in exchange for the Russian arms dealer . Victor Booth, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the US.
Legal experts and hostage negotiators told Insider’s Meredith Cash last week that Russia is too busy “causing chaos” to negotiate.
