Brittney Griner’s new book, “Coming Home,” is out now. In it, she details the harrowing ordeal of being sentenced to nine years and imprisoned in Russia. Griner said that after receiving her guilty verdict and lengthy sentence, she didn’t expect her wife, Cherelle Griner, to wait for her. Brittney told her that she could get a divorce.

"I gave her an out," Griner explained. "But she was basically like, ‘What? Stop it. Don’t you ever say that.’" Cherelle had no plans of leaving her wife, even though there were times during Brittney’s incarceration that she was hopeless. In 2022, Cherelle said, “You try and stay grounded, but I’m human. Still, I would never completely give up hope on my wife’s life.”

However, Brittney’s guilt stretched far beyond her fate in Russia. She felt the guilt of leaving her wife alone for the length of her sentence. Griner shared in “Coming Home,” "My basketball career would be over. I’d be in my early forties and out of shape, would have to find a new way to provide for my wife. And Relle. She assured me she’d wait, but ten years was ridiculous.”

Cherelle held Griner down, advocating for her release in 2022 with the help of President Joe Biden, who oversaw the prison swap that allowed Griner to be freed.

"I went through so many emotions being locked up, and just thinking about nine years,” she said. “We planned on having kids, and doing all these amazing things together, and now I'm thinking, ‘Is that going to happen? How can I ask her to wait?’"