By: Fatima Roshni
Image Credit: Pinterest
Born on October 18, 1990, in Houston, Brittney Griner, the youngest daughter of Raymond and Sandra Griner is a WNBA player starting her basketball career at Nimitz High School.
Soon enough, after showing great improvement as a senior and being named an All-American, she went on to play at Baylor University in 2009, averaging 22.2 points per game.
Standing 6 feet 9, Griner was drafted in the NBA by the Pheonix Mercury as the third overall pick in 2013, making her debut in her rookie season as an All-Star.
While making her debut in WNBA, Griner came out publicly as a lesbian during an interview discussing the hardships she faced in her life as a high schooler after coming out initially.
Breaking the barrier as the first gay athlete in the WNBA, Brittney signed a contract with Nike, endorsing the brand's menswear section for a sponsorship deal worth $5000 per year.
Her engagement with WNBA player Gloria Johnson in 2014 was a speculated one, leading to her domestic violence arrest, their marriage, Gloria’s pregnancy, and their marriage annulment.
After a good career in the WNBA, Brittney, who also played overseas for years, got detained in Russia on drug charges in 2022, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 9 years in prison.
In exchange for a prisoner swap with arms smuggler Viktor Bout, Brittney reunited with her wife, Cherelle Johnson, in 2019, after 10 months of detention with the support of Joe Biden.
Although receiving a huge amount of backlash about her arrest, Brittney Griner is soon to make a comeback in the WNBA this season with the Pheonix Mercury, continuing with her career.
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