Here's more of my exclusive interview with Britney Griner.
You eventually wrote to Vladimir Putin.
You wrote him a letter.
I did. It was a very
careful letter, I guess the way I would put it.
And you're very careful in what you said
in trying to make sure that his ego remained intact.
And everything that you said
really hard to do, really hard to what would you,
what would you really have wanted to write to him?
I don't think I can say what I want to
say.
This is cable TV.
It's cable. You know, I I didn't even want to
have to write them at all,
honestly. Like, I I just really didn't want to have
to write them.
It was very carefully done.
And it ended up being 2 letters that I had
to write because,
you know, they made me write one in Russian as
well,
which took me two hours to write because I don't
write Russian.
It was more tracing the letter than than anything,
but it
trying to pump up someones ego that just already thinks
that they're on top of the world and you know,
the horrors that he does not only to his own
people but he tries to put on other people in
the world.
It it was hard to do.
There was at one point kind of almost a competition
to see who could get you out between the current
administration,
the Biden Harris administration and 1 Donald J Trump.
Because he has some connections
to I guess world, not World Wrestling Federation but to,
you know, some athlete confederations.
And he thought, well, I can help you.
I'll be the one to fly over and get you
out.
And in the book you say you anybody to get
you out.
You were down with that.
What do you make of the fact that after attempting
to at least verbally say he was going to compete
to get you out of Russia,
Donald Trump then turns on you
and whips up the crowd against you,
saying that you should not have been the one traded,
you should not have been the one that the deal
was made for,
That it should have been Paul Whalen or someone else
and that
essentially he sicked the mega mob on you.
Yeah. No, it. I mean,
I was already being used as a pawn and then
to
then turn around and publicly be used,
almost be used again as a pawn,
you know, here in the States with his administration.
You know, it was disheartening.
And I was just like,
wow, really. At my lowest moment,
you want to try to use this as a game.
And then when it doesn't work or someone tells you
not to do it,
whatever happened, now you want to flip it just like,
really, really, Guy, come on.
Eventually you did get liberation.
You got freedom. Talk about that moment when you realized
a deal has been made.
I was very happy, very happy.
I'll never forget and come in and get me from
the prison or from my workshop and telling me like
you're you're going home,
like you're you're you're leaving.
I was thrilled but then scared also because like,
it could fall apart at any moment.
And then also happy because I'm like,
OK, well maybe it's me and Paul's turn now when
I get on this plane.
You know, hopefully we're both on this plane.
You know, when Trevor went home,
you know, Paul wasn't able to go and I wasn't
able to go.
My child was still going on.
So I was really hopeful that everyone in Russia was
going to be coming home.
Right? And Trevor Reed's family and Paul Whalen's family and
your family were sort of all in connection.
We were all in contact.
Sherelle, your lawyers were all in contact with these families.
That forms a bond. I can imagine that your families
really,
this is a group effort.
It's not just about getting one person out.
It's definitely a group effort because there's no way you
get through this.
There's no way you go through this,
get through this without a unit,
without a family, without without the other families getting together,
bring our families home.
It really takes a village because it's it's a lot
of emotions.
It's hard to work through them as well,
too. You spent 293 days
in Russia, in captivity, in Russia,
in various places. What did you learn about yourself
in that 293 days? I learned that
I'm a little bit more resilient than I thought.
I was listening to all those stories Pops told me
back in the day.
You know, he used to work in the work in
the prison system as well.
And, you know, he would tell me stories about,
you know, how certain inmates would treat him and how
they,
he would treat them with respect as well.
So, you know, I definitely use that too.
You know, I treated everybody with respect,
even though they don't know what I'm saying.
Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. Yes,
Sir. No, Sir.
And you can see how they treat.
Some would treat you with the respect that you deserve
as a human and then sometimes it just didn't work.
I want to talk about a couple of causes that
you've
really you included in this book and it was very
generous.
At the end, you listed the
still detained Americans all around the world and the organization
that is trying to get them home.
Talk about your involvement with that cause.
Yes, we'll bring our families home.
You know the WNBA. I will give credit to them
and my team for everything that we have done last
year and we're going to continue to do this year
with and videos. One of the biggest thing is to
get these families in front of the camera as well
so we can get this coverage so people will know,
You know, up until my detainment,
you know, I knew that we had,
you know, Americans detained overseas.
But I didn't understand how bad it was.
Regardless what's going on, regardless of the crime,
regard of the alleged crime,
these conditions and what these families are going through
should never happen. Like it should not happen.
So, you know, with our,
with our coverage, we're using our platforms for something good,
something really good and giving these families a voice to
be to be in front of America.
Do you have a message that you want to send
to those who are still
being held hostage around the world?
If there's some way that they can get that message,
what would you say to them?
Don't give up. I would say do not give up.
We are fighting and we're not going to give up.
I'm not going to give up.
I keep saying that I'm on borrowed time until my
release date in October
2030, October 2030.
And
I'm not. I'm not stopping.
I'm not stopping. We're going to make as much noise
as we can,
and we're going to keep fighting and bringing you home.
What do you make of the
the real necessity for people who were in your situation
to get direct access to the White House?
Because that is, that was the key,
right? It was the key for you.
It was the key for the Whelan family.
It's the key for the Reed family.
What does that mean? Like,
how do you do that?
Everyone pick up your phone,
pick up a pen right to your center,
right to the governor, right to the White House.
What right flood their phones,
be heard, be seen. President Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris.
They got personally involved and at a certain point they
met personally with your wife.
What do you think? Do you think that their efforts
were
soon enough effective enough? Talk about them a little bit
and about their in their efforts to get you home?
I just want to thank them everything that they did.
You know, we got to see a different side of
politics and how it all works and everything.
And you know they have a lot being thrown at
them,
a lot. It's so much
hardest job, I think in the country,
honestly. And I just want to thank them so much
for never letting me feel
or my wife felt like we were forgotten or not
hurt.
And I appreciate them for everything else and the people
that they're continuing to bring home right now.
What was the conversation like?
I believe that President Biden called you first and then
Vice President Harris.
What were those conversations like?
They were good. I remember him saying kiddo.
And I just felt I immediately felt young,
younger. I immediately felt like a kid again
and but he was just so warm,
so warm and like just so personal.
And same with Miss Harris as well.
Just so warm, so personal.
And I just, I never forget seeing Miss Harris behind
my wife when she was talking and she was just
looking so proud back there.
And I was just so happy I got the PDF
version of your book so that I could read it,
so I could prepare for this.
Now I have the hard copy,
so I was able to turn to the last page.
This was not in the PDF,
so I'm going to read it.
No, it was not to my son.
I pray that you learn from my hard times so
that you can have a life
with a little less pain in it.
I love you. Is this baby born?
Not yet. Not yet. But you know you're having a
boy.
The baby's in the oven.
What will it mean to you to be a mom?
It's it's going to mean everything to me.
You know, you're you're doing it for somebody else.
You know, every movement, everything you do,
everything you say,
watching this person develop into
whoever they're going to become,
I'm just so ready for that chapter,
and we both are, and we're so excited.
What are you going to?
What advice would you give this baby boy about how
to deal with difficult times,
hold your head high and keep moving forward?
You can't please everyone, and just as long as you're
staying true to yourself,
that's all that matters at night.
Britney Griner, I believe a lot of people are going
to be buying your jersey.
I believe the WNBA is going to have its greatest
season ever.
And I think you are a big part of that.
It is heroic how you stood up for yourself and
also stood up for other people in the time of
your greatest trauma.
So I want to thank you for writing this book.
I want to thank you for coming and sitting down
with me.
And God bless you. And
when that baby boy comes,
tell him he got an extra godmother.
I will definitely do that.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you.