WNBA star Brittney Griner is going to be a mom! The Phoenix Mercury player announced that she and her wife Cherelle are expecting their first baby together. “Baby Griner Coming Soon.”
The couple shared a joint Instagram post where they held hands, showing off their matching cross tattoos, beside a string of sonogram images. “Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,” Cherelle captioned the post. The couple’s baby is due to arrive this July. They did not reveal whether they know the sex of their little one or not.
Brittney and Cherelle first met while they were each attending college at Baylor University in Texas between 2009 and 2013. However, the two didn’t begin a romantic relationship until years later. In June 2019, they tied the knot one year after getting engaged. A few years later, in February 2022, the athlete was detained in Russia for drug charges. She spent months in Russian custody and was sentenced to nine years in prison after a weeks-long trial. The WNBA star was eventually released in December 2022, with President Joe Biden signing off on a one-for-one prisoner trade to get the athlete back home.
After Brittney returned home, Cherelle opened up about how relieved she felt having her wife back. “I had thought about that moment a thousand times, and I thought I would be full of tears. But I was overwhelmingly happy. It was the first time I was able to finally exhale, and I’m like, ‘Oh, thank God, this is such a great day.'” Brittney is releasing a book about her experience called “Coming Home,” which is set to release next month.
On how they were adjusting to life being back together, Cherelle explained, “It’s unfortunate that those 10 months happened without us being able to be side-by-side. But it happened, and we’re embracing the fact that we now get to learn each other’s story through that time. So we’re taking it slow. We are not doing it all at once. But we are honoring the fact that I went through something that was really hard and difficult without BG’s awareness, and vice versa. Day by day, we’re just feeding a little bit to the soul and understanding each other’s journey so we can actually start walking together.”
Congratulations to Brittney and Cherelle on the news of their first baby!
Kate Fann (she/her) is the BabyNames.com celebrity blogger, as well as an established content writer, aspiring author, and social media expert. She has been featured in online publications such as Bolde, ManoByte, Medium, The Social Observer, and more. Kate has ghostwritten numerous romance novels and is currently working on publishing her own works in the Young Adult genre.
Kate lives in East Tennessee with her husband Casey and her two sons, Quinn and Noah. When she's not writing or scrolling Instagram, Kate can be found tasting delicious wines, playing with make-up, baking yummy treats, or hiking the beautiful Smoky Mountains.
