WNBA star Brittney Griner spoke at length for the first time about her detention in Russia during an interview with ABC on Wednesday night.
Griner was travelling from New York to Moscow in February of 2022, as she was playing for the Russian basketball club UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA’s offseason.
Russian authorities detained her in Moscow after finding vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis.
She went to trial in Russia and was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
The Phoenix Mercury center revealed that she thought about committing suicide during her tenth-month long stint in a Russian prison.
“I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks,” Griner told interviewer Robin Roberts. “I felt like leaving here so badly.”
The seven-time WNBA All-Star explained that she decided not to go through with it for the fear her body would never be released to her family.
Griner also spoke about the terrible living conditions in her prison cell, which contained a mattress with “a huge blood stain on it…no soap, no toilet paper.”
It all made her feel “less than human.”
The two-time Olympic gold medallist said she also faced a psychiatric evaluation after being arrested and was worried she would get institutionalized because Russian authorities consider homosexuality as a mental illness.
The only reason Griner was freed was because the US did a deal to exchange her for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Before her release, Griner was forced to write a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They made me write this letter. It was in Russian,” she said. “I had to ask for forgiveness and thanks from their so-called great leader. I didn’t want to do it, but at the same time I wanted to come home.”
If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.