Brittney Griner Attends Her First-Ever Met Gala With Her Wife Cherelle Griner

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle Griner, are attending their first Met Gala tonight, coming off a string of appearances following Brittney’s release from Russian prison in December 2022. The two are wearing custom Calvin Klein, with Brittney in a beige coat, matching trousers, and a sheer top, and Cherelle in a white strapless dress with silver statement earrings. “It is dripping off of us right now,” Brittney said of their looks. (As she told ELLE back in 2013, the last time Brittney wore a dress was for her high school graduation, at the request of her mother. She vowed never to wear one again.)

Cherelle took a moment to acknowledge the significance of attending the Met as a couple with her wife finally safe at home. “This time last year, I was missing my wife, so to have her right here, to be in this moment—breathtaking,” she told LaLa Anthony on Vogue‘s red carpet livestream.

On the carpet, Brittney also took a moment to shout out the Bring Home Our Families campaign, which advocates for bringing home wrongly detained individuals abroad. She said the organization provided immense support to her wife while she was imprisoned. Now, she’s making a note to support other families going through the same experience.

She noted that other families don’t have the same access to the media that she does as a public figure, so it’s important to show support by “just being there, being a voice for those families, so they’re not feeling left behind or forgotten at all.”

Since her emotional return home, Brittney has raised awareness for important issues such as the gender pay gap in sports, American detainees overseas, and transgender rights for athletes. On April 27, for instance, Brittney showed up at the National Action Network’s Women’s Empowerment Luncheon hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton, informing the crowd that “I want to continue to fight to bring home every American detained overseas. That means everything to me.” And on Saturday night, she and Cherelle attended the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where she met President Biden face-to-face for the first time since her release.

“It was emotional, that’s for sure,” Griner says in a video posted after the event by Gayle King. “I’ll say that. It was emotional for both of us. It was especially for me.”

Also on Sunday, Griner returned to the basketball court for her first training camp practice since coming home. Of the workout, Griner told reporters, “Am I where I want to be? No, because last time I was with my team I was against Chicago in the Finals, and as much as I want to be ‘Finals BG’ right now, it’s not the case…I feel like I’m at a good spot to start a training camp, though, for sure. I mean, I didn’t fall out; they didn’t have to get a stretcher or oxygen or anything, so I guess I’m doing pretty good.”

Britney’s Met Gala appearance is another event that serves as both celebration and endorsement of her new freedom. Later this year, she plans to release a memoir chronicling her 10-month detainment, and the swirl of emotions that surrounded both the backlash to her arrest and the calls for her release. As she told reporters Sunday after practice, “Being here right now means everything.”