Eyes. I was deathly afraid. Wnba star Brittney Griner in her first cable interview since her imprisonment in a russian gulag. We talk about the fear, the sham trial, the letter she wrote to Vladimir Putin, how trump turned on her and her joyful homecoming. Welcome to a Special Edition of the reidout. Interest in Womens Basketball is surging thanks to some talents and top rookies like angel reese and caitlin clark, all of whom helped boost the wnba star power as well as draw attention to pay disparities in the league. Not so long ago, the world was fixated on one particular Basketball Star for an incident that occurred far from any american court. Back in february the 2022, Brittney Griner, a wnba all star and twotime olympic Gold Medalist was stopped at a Security Checkpoint at a moscow airport. Officials said they found canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage. Brittney griner played basketball in russia during her offseason, something many wnba players to supplement their league salaries. After being found guilty of Drug Smuggling and possession charges, Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a russian penal colony. Many feared how Brittney Griner would be treated in russia as a black, queer woman and american, especially during a time when russia was invading ukraine. Brittney griners Wife Cherelle lived a different nightmare, in a state of waiting well become the public face to bring Brittney Griner home. Seven months in a penal colony in russia, known for its harsh conditions, Brittney Griner such contemplated suicide and has recently shared more details on the harrowing days. Being left outside the frigid russian winter for hours, having to get permission to cut her frozen locks in prison. She was finally released on the tarmac in the United Arab Emirates in exchange for a russian arms dealer. It has been 17 months since her detention in russia. And her first Cable Television interview, we get to hear about the story from tran 27 herself. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I appreciate you being here to talk to me. Your book is so good. It is so potent. It is important you told the story because it strikes me that only you could have been in the situation that you were in for a lot of reasons. We will get into those. I polled some quotes from your book i want to read to you. This is the first one that struck me, struck all of us on the team and it says fear takes many forms theres the kind you feel when life sneaks up and fight and after death. Some people freeze. Others run. Usually the one who fights like hell. When i saw those cartridges, not one but two, different types of your secretary. There was no instinct to fight, flight, or freeze. Instead, my body went into a major freefall as if id stumbled off the cliff and plunged into the ocean. Talk to me about that moment, when you realized that those cartridges had accidentally remained in your bag. In the airport, in russia. It was definitely a freefall. Have you ever been so scared like something just really like to the core, not a little ghost scare but am talking like really loved one in danger type fear . That feeling is what went through my whole body. I saw my life flash before my eyes. I was like its over. Bg is no more. In that moment. I was deaf deathly afraid. Part of this story is the fact that you were a star in russia. You were the start of your team, russian kids went up to you and want your autograph. Did part of you think, no, they are going to let me go . There was a little hope but at the same time, i also understand the relationship between other countries and im like thats not going to slider. You talk about not just that but being forced to sign something. You dont speak russian and no one there spoke english. They finally get somebody from dutyfree. The dutyfree store. When you finally relented after being prodded and needled to sign this paper, what did you think you were signing question i had no idea what i was signing. I knew i was signing something that needed to be read to me. Minutes history in Law Enforcement and all of that, i knew this was something that needed to be explained to me. By me signing this paper, what am i saying, what rights am i giving up . It was none of that. It was a dutyfree worker that came over and said you sign here in very broken english. It wasnt even you have to sign this paper because this is giving up your rights you are admitting to none of that. You played for seven years in russia. You know a Little Something about the country. He felt you had an affinity for the country. In that moment as you are thinking okay, im going to be arrested, you write about your arrest and you are told you are going to be taken to the police station, temporary detention center. Is like a county jail. Now you know, not only are they arresting me but im really going to be taken to jail. Yes. Did you think that moment i Brittney Griner him being taken to jail or did you think we do minute, i am a black, queer woman in a country in which i am a super minority and not necessarily and embraced minority and what in the world is that jail going to be like for me questioning i was terrified when i was going to that jail. What game are they going to play . I soon found out they were trying to get me to go into one of the mens souls. Im not going into that cell. One of the guards says something in russian and they take me to the womens side. I was just like you see, it is a game. And you all that were stacked against me. Did you know you are targeted, people knew who you were, knew you were landing on that flight and targeted you . I believe so. Wholeheartedly. Going through, during the transfer, how i was singled out two over one there was a flood of things not being scanned, not getting searched and saw the people that were asked to come to the site, it was like something, there was a tip. They knew i was coming through. When you got to the jail, you write about the isolation of being alone, you write about the pain of the right. You are a tall person, 69, trying to fit into a car where they are not concerned about your physical health and physical safety. I wonder if you think the people in the jail knew who you were and decided they were going to protect her did you, the bullying. It was striking to see, to see you write about the way that you were made a spectacle, turned into a spectacle. In your mind, which is simply our identity or we know who this is, we are going to mock her. They knew who i was. I hear things like the basketball american. It was just i would see the little hole where they could see you, they would look that up all the time, all hours of the night, out here in up and down and snickering and laughing. Im like okay, i am the zoo animal today. They get to come see. I think one of the most tragic things about the narrative that you wrote is that you write about that not being the first time you felt that way. You write about being always the tallest, about always being different, even growing up. So, it strikes me as doubly tragic to feel like the zoo animal, one for you, other than playing basketball and sports getting you out of that feeling just growing up, talk a little bit about that. Definitely always felt like i was the outsider. I vividly remember sixth, seventh grade, someone, another girl came up to me, touched my whole chest and was like see, shes not a girl. The boys, the voice being deeper, the fact, i was always a spectacle. I was always look how different you are. I have always felt that. I am different. When i walk in a room, people notice how different i am. It took me a little bit but i embraced it. That moment being in that is in and how they were treating me, it took me back to that spectacle of my childhood. Even to the point of essentially threatening to put you in the madhouse, trying to force her to admit that you are a drug addict, using all the stereotypes of a black person, you must be a drug addict, asking when did you decide that you were gay and trying to needle you in that way. I was like i didnt decide that i was gay, i knew this. When i said it and it was translated to them, you could see their faces like what . No, thats not right. When did you choose. When did you start having second thoughts . I said i never started having second thoughts. Being told that they are going to throw me in basically the madhouse if i didnt admit to my guilt. Take me back before that because you had to have developed some skills growing up in dealing with bullying and a someone who dealt with a little bullying and understands that on some level as well, sports and athletic does help a lot. It gives you something for people to focus on. Being a class clown a little bit, to write about making people laugh with you rather than at you. A lot of people who have been bullied can relate to that. Talk about the skills you had to develop. Getting a thick skin, develop a thick skin, just growing through all that. When i found sports, it gave me a purpose. Instead of acting out and getting people to like me, i was able to channel that into my performance on the court. It was crazy. I always talk about i became popular when i started playing basketball. Now i can be accepted because im doing this cool thing on the court. When i really felt the acceptance is when they got to know me and they were like you are really cool. I can relate to you more and that is when i really felt the genuine acceptance. I felt a little bit, of course, im young and i felt start a little bit. It wasnt finally until they got to know me. Then you found love. I. D. d. Cherelle. The other thing that got you through, really what was torment and being tormented and, in this case, by your self, this was before you had anyone with you, it was cherelle, it was her faith and knowing she was there that got you through it. Initially, you desperately were trying to get in touch with her, you desperately were sending text messages. Pick up the phone. It was 2 00 in the morning. Talk about being without her in that moment. I was searching for her so hard. I was sending message, calling him a message but it was really. I did this fight so many times, she was probably still asleep and waiting for me to be on my next flight. When i finally got to her, it was a little bit of relief because i know someone that loves me knows what is going on, where im at. She can start rallying the troops to figure out the next course of action plan. I was lost, i really didnt understand, i didnt know what to do next. I knew just to be quiet and wait for legal representation. Other than that, i really needed her. Let me read a little more of your book. He writes this. It was cherelles strength i borrowed when my ran out. I wanted to take my life in the first few weeks, felt like leaving here so badly. I didnt care anymore if there was an afterlife. I just wanted that one to be over. Suicide would have been easy. I couldnt put my family through that nightmare and i especially couldnt do that to my mama. That and relles face kept me here. I know you write a lot about faith. Not just cherelles face but the faith you developed over time. Tell me about that. For a lot of people, people might be surprised that you could develop a strong faith not only because of the situation but because, in this country, people who claim to be christians, i will say claim to be christians, are not normally a ferment of someone like you. How did you find faith in that moment . Was a journey, it was a journey and it was hard. My dad would always tell me and relle, her face was always so strong when we first met, to rely on god, trust in god and turn it over to him. In that moment i had to do that. I had to rely on all those things. I had to turn it over to him. It was out of everybodys hands at that moment. That is what got me through, my faith and my family. If i would have done that, it would have, i just knew it was going to be bad, i knew it was going to be bad. Who knows if they were going to release my body, they were going to hold onto it. I couldnt put my wife or my family through that. 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So, you spent on wednesday with your wife and then you get on a plane with those cartridges that you didnt realize were in their. To get arrested, 10 days later, russia invades ukraine. How did the invasion change what you understood to be a reality . Any help that you were going to be able to get out of this, the ukrainian war changed it. That changed everything. Any sliver of hope i had that we could do some kind of agreement or a trade or something quietly, that all without the window. When they invaded, i knew. That was another moment of that feeling that something just its all over. I was like this is it. Theres no way now. How long do wars take . They take forever sometimes. They are still going on. I was like well, i need to get prepared for the long haul. This is going to be a very long time. You wrote a chapter called putins pawn. You had russian lawyers, one whom you became close to, did it become clear to you and to them that Vladimir Putin was going to use you . The few times i would get the guards to Say Something to me when im like where am i going, am i the only one, i knew that The American Basketball Player had to be by themselves. This is weird. Normally you go, you go into the holding tank with everyone else, you are in the cell, you dont have a room to yourself in the beginning. You are with a lot of people. I already knew there were Little Things going on and that check ins, the top guard was always there, the warden was always there. I knew there was some special treatment. Lets keep her good for right now for later on. Eventually, you wrote to your dad and your law. You wrote the letter you received back from your law broke you but it was your dads letter that was hardest to write to him. To read a little bit of what he wrote back to you. He wrote you still have a daddy and always will. Ive always been there for you and i will be there for you when no one else is. You are still my baby no matter how old you are or how tall you get. I pray for you every day, for your health and to return home. Everything will work out. Take care of yourself and do what they ask of you. Im glad you got another bed. I hope you are getting some sleep now. I know you probably get tired of answering so many letters but just let me know if you get this one, even if all you write is i got it. Remember i love you and always will. Nothing and nobody can change that, your dad and law are with you for life. Please dont ever forget that. Love you dad. Talk about your relationship with your dad. And my dad relationship is complex. Some people dont really understand it but that is my hero. It was hard for him, probably, raising a child like me. A little different than the average. He is legit my hero. He has done everything for me, my career. When i first started off, like when i was younger, taking the everywhere. It was never im going to send you with the team mama. My dad was with me always. Drove me to every basketball tournament. For me, my biggest thing was i didnt want to bring shame to our last name. He wrote me and told me i would never do that and that was a hard moment for me. I still to this day feel like i did and that was hard. That was really hard for me. Why did you feel that . I sense that throughout the book, that you blame yourself for this throughout the book. I didnt get the sense you stopped doing that. Why do you feel that . You take ownership of what happens, regardless if you meant to do that, didnt mean to do it, you take ownership and that is something my dad instilled in me and that is something i will always have, regardless of the situation. I still see it is my fault and i feel like i got a tarnish to our last name a little bit. Everyone told me give yourself grace. It is so hard to give yourself grace for someone like me. Im going to tell you the same thing. You have to understand that this was not your fault. It wasnt. You didnt mean to do it. He p