feature image art by Autostraddle / photos of Brittney Griner and Cherelle Griner by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET and via Instagram
Cuteness alert! WNBA superstar Brittney Griner and her wife Cherelle Griner mutually announced on their Instagrams today that they’re expecting a baby this summer. “Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being 🤍,” the caption reads, hashtagged #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024 (prompting me, a homosexual, to immediately wonder: July Cancer or July Leo?). The post features images of an ultrasound and the Griners’ clasped hands. This will be the couple’s first baby, and Brittney has two children with a previous partner.
The announcement comes just a couple months after Brittney’s celebratory homecoming when her Baylor University jersey number was retired, a huge and more-than-deserved honor. I think we can all agree we love to see Brittney Griner winning lately. Just two years ago, the long and disturbing saga of her detention in Russia began. Cherelle, who is an attorney, played a huge role in advocating for Brittney’s release.
The Griners got engaged in 2018 and married in 2019. They met while students at Baylor, though it would be several years later that they would begin dating. Brittney once wrote about their initial college meet-cute on Instagram: “I will never forget the day I met you at Baylor in the sub area! You tapped me on my shoulder and told me I took your milkshake (still up for debate lol) and I was immediately blown away at your beauty!”
“You had no idea but I knew you were the one for me baby,” she continues in the post from 2020. They recently celebrated six years together.
Brittney and Cherelle’s love is adorable (I mean, have you seen them play the Newlyweds Game?), and I’m corny as hell, but I’m such a sucker for when two queer women do a sweet little baby announcement, so this has genuinely brightened my weekend.
In addition to a new baby dropping soon, Brittney has a new memoir dropping in less than a month. Coming Home, about her arrest and detention in Russia and its harrowing impact on her life and mental health, comes out on May 7.
Congrats to the queer-parents-to-be!
This is such wonderful news 💜