It was only two years ago that all eyes were on Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia while traveling to play in the country during her off season in February 2022 after authorities accused her of carrying cannabis oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.
After being sentenced to nine years in prison and ultimately serving 10 months, Griner safely returned home following a prisoner swap agreement for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December 2022.
Now, Griner is speaking out for the first time since the ordeal occurred in a 20/20 interview with Robin Roberts set to air Wednesday on ABC. During the interview, Griner recounts her incarceration, including some of the harder and intimate moments where she says she felt suicidal, saying that the cannabis oil in her luggage was the result of a “mental lapse.”
Authorities at the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki discovered vape cartridges containing cannabis oil after searching the bags of the Phoenix Mercury player, Olympic gold medalist and nine-time NBA All-Star. Cannabis is illegal in Russia, and possession of even small amounts can come with strict punishments.
“I could just visualize everything I worked so hard for just crumbling and going away,” Griner said in comments released ahead of the interview, adding that the experience was even more difficult due to her inability to communicate with prison officers.
Griner ultimately pleaded guilty to the drug charges in July 2022, testifying that she had accidentally brought the cannabis cartridges into the country and had “no intention” of breaking the law by keeping them in her luggage.
“Have you ever forgot your keys in your car?” Griner said. “Left your car running? Have you ever, you know, ‘Where’s my glasses?’ They’re on top of your head. ‘Where’s my phone? Oh, it’s in my pocket.’ It’s just so easy to have a mental lapse. Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn’t take away from how that can happen.”
She further emphasized that it was a mistake while recognizing that even accidents like this have repercussions, adding, “And I’m an American in Russia where relations aren’t the best.”
In reply to Roberts’ inquiry asking what was going through her mind after she had realized what had happened, and how her life was going to change because of the mistake, Griner said that she was thinking about her family and what the broader perception her incarceration may entail.
“I’m thinking about my wife. I’m thinking about my dad. You know, what my mom’s going to think, what my family’s going to think, public opinion is going to think”, she said. “I can just see the headlines now.”
In May 2022, the Department of State classified Griner as “unlawfully detained,” the same designation given to former U.S. marine Paul Whelan who is still being held in Russia.
Griner mentioned Whelan in the interview, who was accused of spying in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020, saying that she had hoped he would be on the plane home with her when she was finally cleared to go back to the U.S.
“When I walked on and I didn’t see him, I was like, ‘OK, maybe I’m early. Maybe he’s next. Maybe they’re going to bring him next,’” she said. “And when they closed the door, I was like, ‘Are you seriously not going to let this man come home right now?’”
She also said that the U.S. government should have pushed harder to get both her and Whelan back home.
“’If it was left up to me in that trade, I would have went and got Paul and brought him home,’ Griner says. “But any time that we can bring home an American, that is a win for Americans. No one should be left behind.”
Griner got back on the court after returning home and is expecting her first baby with wife Cherelle Griner this July. Griner is also expected to reveal even more about her experience in Russia in her upcoming memoir, Coming Home, which is due for release on May 7. She is also working with ESPN Films and Disney to produce a documentary about her story.
Griner’s 20/20 interview is set to air on Wednesday May 1 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
