Brittney Griner is 'very afraid' and at her 'weakest moment,' wife says

Brittney Griner is "very afraid" and feels that she is being forgotten about in Russia, according to her wife, who had a "disturbing" phone conversation with her.

Cherelle Griner spoke with CBS Mornings almost eight months after her wife, Brittney Griner, was arrested in Russia for having cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage. Cherelle said she has had two phone conversations with Brittney beginning in August, the first of which left her feeling that "we can survive this." But things changed with the second call.

"It was the most disturbing phone call I've ever experienced," she said, explaining "you could hear" that Brittney "was not okay" during the brief conversation. "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 added.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

In August, Griner was sentenced to nine years in Russian prison after being convicted on drug charges, and she has an appeal hearing scheduled for Oct. 25. But Cherelle Griner told CBS that her wife is "at her absolute weakest moment in life" and is "very afraid about being left and forgotten in Russia." She also said that Brittney told her, "I feel like my life just doesn't matter. Y'all don't see me? Ya'll don't see the need to get me back home? Am I just nothing?"

Cherelle expressed concern that her wife could be moved to a Russian labor camp, though she told CBS she believes President Biden is "doing what he can" to bring her home.