Brittney Griner feared that her plane would be shot down after she was released from detention in Russia, the WNBA star said in a new interview with The Cut.
Speaking with former US soccer icon Megan Rapinoe in an interview published in The Cut on Monday, Griner recalled the moment she learned that she was being released.
“I got a note underneath my door that said, ‘Be ready at midnight,’ or some late, crazy hour,” she said. “I didn’t even go to sleep. I packed up all my stuff. I slept with my shoes on, and then I finally got to process out. I had put on real clothes, that’s when I knew.”
The 33-year-old said that she was anxious even once she had left her prison facility, adding: “We get to that airport, and I get on that plane. I was worried someone might shoot the plane down. It wouldn’t be the first time. I knew I wouldn’t feel safe until wheels are on US soil.”
Griner spent close to 300 days in custody after authorities found cannabis oil in her luggage.
Russian prosecutors accused her of trying to smuggle less than one gram of cannabis oil contained in vape cartridges and she was later sentenced to nine years in prison.
The US State Department, however, deemed that Griner had been wrongfully detained, and she was released in December 2022 in a prisoner swap involving Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Since her release, Griner has spoken about the mental anguish and poor living conditions she endured in prison, as well as the support she received from people back home.
“My mind was in some dark places while I was over there, but that love and everyone, like you said, wearing jerseys, tweeting, posters, all that, it made me not feel forgotten, I know that,” she told Rapinoe.
“There were so many nights where I went to sleep and was wondering when the next big story is going to come through and then the hype goes down, all the awareness goes down. But I never felt that drop.”
The Phoenix Mercury center is preparing to play in her 11th WNBA season, while she and her partner, Cherelle, are also expecting their first child, Bash Raymond Griner.
“Baby Bash, I hope, will play basketball!” said Griner. “I just want them to play something! They could do art, sports, whatever. Would I be very happy if it was basketball? Of course.”