Brittney Griner reveals wife Cherelle has given birth to baby boy as couple welcome first child 19 months since WNBA star's release from Russian jail

Brittney Griner and wife Cherelle have welcomed their first child together 19 months after the WNBA star's release from a Russian penal colony.

The couple announced back in April that Cherelle, 32, was pregnant in a heartwarming post on Instagram, which showed them holding hands alongside photos of their baby scans.

And three months later Brittney has revealed that their baby boy is now here, admitting she is over the moon to be a 'pops'.

'I'm super excited,' she said when asked about the pregnancy in an interview with CBS Sports' We Need To Talk. 'Well, I mean I guess I'll just drop it... he's here. Seven pounds eight ounces. Yeah, that's my man!'

Griner previously had twins with ex-wife and fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson in 2015, only for the pair to divorce just a year later. 

Nevertheless, welcoming another child with Cherelle has reminded the 33-year-old how great a feeling it is.

'He is amazing,' Griner continued. 'They say as soon as you see them everything that you thought mattered just goes out the window, and that's literally what happens.

'It kinda sucks cause I've gotta leave, but at the same time he'll understand.'

Brittney and Cherelle first got engaged in 2018, but four years later the former was arrested at an airport in Moscow after Russian authorities claimed she was caught entering the country with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. 

Griner was put in a detention center near Moscow until November of that year, before she was moved to an undisclosed prison. 

She was then taken to a penal colony in Mordovia, a Russian region roughly 300 miles southeast of Moscow, to serve her nine-year sentence on drug charges.

Eventually, in December 2022, the 6-foot-9 WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist was was freed in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout after spending 10 months in jail.

Griner recently re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury - her only WNBA team - ahead of this year’s Olympics in Paris. 

This weekend she is taking part in the WNBA All-Star Game before the league comes to a halt for the Olympic Games later this month.