5 Issues About WNBA Star Detained In Russia – Hollywood Life

• Brittney Griner is a WNBA star.
• She performed for a Russian basketball workforce in the course of the offseason.
• She was arrested in March 2022 for possessing marijuana vape cartridges. She was sentenced to 9 years in jail in August.
• Her attraction was rejected on October 25.

Brittney Griner’s attraction for a lesser sentence was rejected by a Russian court docket on Tuesday, October 25. The WNBA star, 32, was sentenced to 9 years in a penal colony after she plead responsible to drug fees in July. Brittney’s attorneys stated that they had been nonetheless discussing the following steps that they’d take after the court docket upheld the unique sentence. “The decision accommodates quite a few defects and we hoped that the court docket of attraction would take them into consideration,” they stated in a press release to The New York Instances. 

Brittney was arrested after she was discovered with marijuana vape cartridges in March. Her arrest got here as Russia started its warfare in opposition to Ukraine, and amid the battle there’s been a lot strain on President Joe Biden and the State Division to safe her launch. Many stars have additionally known as for Brittney to be launched in mild of the costs. Discover out extra about Brittney right here.

Brittney Was A Faculty Phenom

Griner is the one NCAA basketball participant to attain 2,000 factors and block 500 pictures when she performed for Baylor College in Waco Texas. She was additionally named the AP Participant of the Yr and the Most Excellent Participant of the Last 4.

She Is A Basketball Professional Legend

Griner has been voted an All-Star a complete of seven instances enjoying as a middle for the Phoenix Mercury. She received Olympic gold medals with the U.S. ladies’s nationwide basketball workforce in each 2020 and 2016.

Brittney Performs For A Russian Staff In Offseason

Griner performed in the course of the W.N.B.A. low season for the Russian workforce Ekaterinburg within the Euroleague since 2015, the place salaries are larger for WNBA gamers. On Saturday, a W.N.B.A. spokeswoman stated all W.N.B.A. gamers apart from Griner had been out of Russia and Ukraine.

She Was Bullied As A Baby For Her Sexuality

Griner got here out publicly as a lesbian in an interview with Sports activities Illustrated on February 11, 2013. “It actually wasn’t too tough, I wouldn’t say I used to be hiding or something like that,” she defined. “I’ve all the time been open about who I’m and my sexuality. If I can present that I’m out and I’m advantageous and all the pieces’s OK, then hopefully the youthful era will certainly really feel the identical manner.” She additionally revealed she was bullied as a baby, saying, “It’s exhausting. Simply being picked on for being totally different. Simply being larger, my sexuality, all the pieces.”

Brittney Cut up From Her Pregnant Spouse

On Might 8, 2015, Griner married longtime girlfriend and fellow W.N.B.A. participant Glory Johnson. Griner left Johnson 28 days after they had been married, and shortly after Johnson revealed she was pregnant with IVF twins. The couple’s divorce was finalized in June 2016.