For WNBA superstar Brittney Griner , the last few years have been the hardest she has ever endured. After being arrested for carrying banned substances, the Phoenix Mercury Center spent almost a year in a Russian prison. Now she reveals what she had to go through and how she ended up in that situation.
ABC News sat down with the 6′ 9″ superstar and had a one-to-one discussion about what happened in that one year. One of the questions raised was about the moment she knew she was in trouble.
I'm just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ Like, ‘How did I-- how did I make this mistake?’ I could just visualize everything I worked so hard for just crumbling and going away. 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. Brittney Griner on ABC News
Griner added that she unknowingly kept the cartridges in her bag as she had to pack in a hurry. Those cartridges had cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia.
She did say that it was an honest mistake and that she owned up to it in court. However, considering the tensions between the United States of America and Russia at the time, her situation was only going to get worse.
Russian law sentenced the Phoenix Mercury superstar and 2-time Defensive Player of the Year to 9 years of hard labor. That subsequent hard labor had a profound effect on the superstar’s life as she would further reveal.
Brittney Griner talks about conditions inside the Russian prison
She talked about what she faced inside the Russian prison where she was held:
That toothpaste was expired, we used to put it on the black mold to kill the mold on the walls. The mattress had a huge blood stain on it, and they give you these thin two sheets. So, you're basically laying on bars. Brittney Griner on ABC News
Essentially, as Griner revealed, it was a work camp. Therefore, conditions in such a place are used to break down criminals. She had to work all day and there was hardly any rest.
Her famous dreadlocks were gone by the time she came out of prison to come back home. She said that the severe cold made it hard for her dreadlocks to dry properly, causing the WNBA superstar to fall sick most of the time.
That one year seems to have had such an effect on Brittney Griner, that she is ever grateful to those who helped her return home. After all, living in such conditions would make anyone worry about how their life had turned upside down.
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