WNBA star Brittney Griner said she considered suicide in the first weeks she spent in a Russian prison after being arrested in 2022 on drug charges, the AP reports.
Griner spoke for the first time about his months-long detention in Russia during an hour-long interview that aired Wednesday night on ABC. Her memoir, “Coming Home,” is set to be released on May 7.
Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage turned up vape cartridges that allegedly contained cannabis-derived oil.
“I wanted to take my own life several times in the first few weeks,” Griner told interviewer Robin Roberts. “I felt so strongly that I wanted to leave here.”
She decided not to, in part because she feared Russian authorities would not return the body to her family.
Her plight coincided with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and further heightened tensions between Russia and the US, ending only after the athlete was released in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner said that before she was released, she was forced to write a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “They forced me to write this letter. It was in Russian,” she said. “I had to ask for forgiveness and thank their so-called great leader. I didn’t want to do it, but at the same time I wanted to go home.”
She was also disappointed when she got on the plane for the exchange that Paul Whelan, another American who was detained in Russia, was not with her.
Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury. The WNBA season begins on May 14.
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Tags: American basketball player jailed Russia breaks silence Vladimir Putin
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