Coverage spread: 2 sources — 1 left · 1 right
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WNBA star Brittney Griner has filed for divorce from her wife, Cherelle Griner, after eight years of marriage, according to court documents filed in Fulton County, Georgia, on Thursday. In the filing, Brittney, 35, described the marriage as “irretrievably broken” and stated that the couple has been separated since July 24. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was first to report the filing, with both NBC News and the New York Post’s Page Six confirming details from the court documents.
Brittney Griner, an Olympic gold medalist and center for the Connecticut Sun, is seeking joint legal custody of the couple’s son, whom Page Six identifies as 2-year-old Bash, born in July 2024. A lawyer for Brittney told NBC News, “This is a matter we hope the parties can resolve privately,” adding there would be no further comment at this time. Representatives for Cherelle, a 33-year-old attorney, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from either outlet.
Background of the Relationship
Brittney and Cherelle Griner met as students at Baylor University, where Brittney became the No. 2 all-time scorer in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. The couple married in June 2018, though Page Six notes that some earlier reports had mistakenly cited 2019 as their wedding year.
Their relationship drew national attention starting in February 2022, when Brittney was detained in Russia after authorities said they found a vape cartridge containing cannabis oil in her luggage. She was subsequently convicted on drug charges and sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. Cherelle became one of the most visible public advocates pushing for her wife’s release, campaigning throughout 2022 until Brittney was freed that December as part of a high-profile prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration. The couple later welcomed their first child together in 2024, with Brittney previously telling CBS Sports that becoming a parent had reshaped her outlook on both life and basketball, saying at the time that “my whole phone has turned into him now.”
Brittney Griner’s Prior Marriage
Both outlets note this is Brittney Griner’s second divorce. She was previously married to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson in 2015, but the two filed for an annulment less than a month into the marriage. NBC News adds further detail here, reporting that Johnson became pregnant with twins via in vitro fertilization during that brief marriage, and that a court later ordered Brittney to pay child support for the twins in 2016. Page Six mentions the earlier marriage and annulment more briefly, without the child-support detail.
How the Coverage Compares
NBC News and Page Six largely align on the core facts: the July 31 filing in Fulton County, the “irretrievably broken” language, the July 24 separation date, and the request for joint custody. Both outlets also trace the same relationship timeline — the Baylor meeting, the 2018 wedding, the 2022 Russian detention and prisoner swap, and the 2024 birth of their son.
The differences are mostly in supplementary detail rather than substance. NBC News includes the added context about Brittney’s first marriage to Glory Johnson, including the twins and subsequent child-support ruling, giving readers a fuller picture of her personal history. Page Six, by contrast, specifically names the couple’s son as Bash and includes Brittney’s earlier quote to CBS Sports about fatherhood changing her perspective, offering more color on the couple’s family life. Page Six also flags and corrects a factual error that had circulated in “previous reports” about the marriage date, clarifying it was 2018 rather than 2019 — a correction not addressed in the NBC News piece. Both outlets attribute the initial reporting of the divorce filing to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, indicating neither broke the story first-hand but instead confirmed and expanded on it using the court filing.
Why It Matters
The divorce marks the end of a relationship that became widely known well beyond basketball circles because of Cherelle Griner’s high-profile advocacy during Brittney’s 2022 detention in Russia, a case that drew attention from the White House and became a significant story in U.S.-Russia diplomatic relations. As one of the WNBA’s most prominent and recognizable athletes, Brittney Griner’s personal life continues to draw public interest, and the filing raises open questions — not yet addressed in either outlet’s reporting — about how custody arrangements for their young son will be resolved and whether the couple will reach a private settlement, as Brittney’s attorney indicated they hope to do.
Sources
Featured photo: Legoktm via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)