Cherelle Griner is asking the court to factor in how much money Brittney Griner makes when it comes to deciding financial support in their divorce.
Court documents show Cherelle has filed her response to Brittney’s divorce petition, and she wants the judge to look closely at the income gap between them before ruling on support. The filing lists their marriage date as June 18, 2018, and states the couple separated on July 24, 2026. Cherelle describes the marriage as “irretrievably broken with no hope for reconciliation.”
The two have been together for eight years. Cherelle became a familiar face during one of the hardest stretches of Brittney’s career, speaking out publicly and pushing for her wife’s release after Brittney was detained in Russia in February 2022. Brittney spent nearly ten months in Russian custody after authorities said they found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage, a substance that is illegal in Russia. She was freed in a prisoner swap that saw the United States release arms dealer Viktor Bout. Brittney and Cherelle welcomed their son, Bash, in 2024.
Cherelle is not new to navigating a courtroom herself. She earned her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2022, finishing while Brittney was still detained overseas, and passed the bar that same year. Her legal focus has centered on family law and civil rights, which puts her in familiar territory as she now works through her own custody and support filing.
Brittney filed for divorce first, submitting her petition on July 30, 2026, in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia. In that filing, she also described the marriage as irretrievably broken and asked for joint physical custody of Bash along with an equitable division of the couple’s marital debts and assets. An attorney representing Brittney told reporters at the time, “This is a matter we hope the parties can resolve privately. There is no further comment at this time.”
Now Cherelle has filed her own response, and custody and money are both on the table. She’s asking for joint legal custody of Bash and wants the court to determine physical custody and parenting time based on what’s in his best interest. On the financial side, Cherelle points to what she calls a “substantial disparity” between her income and Brittney’s, and she says she is “unable to meet her reasonable financial needs on a monthly basis without continued support.”
That disparity is a real one. Brittney signed a one-year contract with the Connecticut Sun worth more than $1 million, the first seven-figure deal in the franchise’s history. The number puts her close to the WNBA’s new max salary of $1.19 million under the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement, a deal that raised average player salaries considerably compared to previous seasons. Brittney is a ten-time WNBA All-Star who won a championship with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014, spent eleven seasons there after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2013, and played one season with the Atlanta Dream before signing with Connecticut this year. She recently passed 6,000 career points, becoming the eighteenth player in WNBA history to reach that mark.
Cherelle’s income has not been detailed in the court filings, but the gap between what she brings home and what Brittney earns is the foundation of her support request.
Neither Brittney nor Cherelle has spoken publicly about the specific terms Cherelle is now seeking. The case remains ongoing in Fulton County, and no hearing date has been made public.
Their marriage had long been treated as one of the more visible relationships in women’s sports, largely because of how vocal Cherelle was during Brittney’s detention. She became a regular presence in interviews and public appearances advocating for her wife’s release, and the two were seen together at high-profile events, including the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April 2023, the year after Brittney came home. That history is part of why the split, first reported in early August, drew so much attention from fans who had followed the couple through one of the most publicized ordeals in recent sports history.
Court records also note that earlier reports had listed the couple’s wedding date as 2019, but the filings confirm they actually married in June 2018, making their relationship a year longer than previously reported.
For now, the filings show two parents working through custody terms for their two-year-old son while also negotiating what financial support should look like given the gap in what each of them earns.
