WNBA player Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle, recently welcomed a new baby into their lives. However, while discussing the baby boy in a recent interview with CBS Sports, Griner noted that she does not want to be referred to as “mom” but instead pops, clearly signifying that she wants to be viewed as a masculine parental figure.
Griner and her wife reportedly received the child earlier this month but refrained from initially making public statements about the news. The interviewer brought up the topic of motherhood, asking Griner about her feelings about becoming a “mom.” However, the WNBA star quickly corrected her, repeatedly insisting that she would be referred to by the colloquial term used to describe a father.
“I think there’s probably one other job that you’re about to get into that is really hard and really scary. You’re about to be a mom. How is that feeling?” the reporter asked the basketball player. Griner decisively responded, “Pop, pops, pops…” The interviewer continued, “Please tell me how exciting that is for you and what you’re looking forward to most.”
Griner responded, “I’m super excited. Well, I mean, I guess I’ll just drop it. He’s here. So he’s here, yes, 7/8/24, yeah, seven pounds, eight ounces. Yeah, that’s my man. He is amazing. They say. You know, as soon as you see him, it’s just like everything that you thought mattered just goes out the window. And that’s literally what happens. It kind of sucks because I got to leave, you know, but at the same time. Yeah, he’ll understand. He’ll understand.”
The American Tribune previously reported on comments from Griner addressing her anticipation toward motherhood after returning to the United States from being imprisoned in Russia. During an interview with former U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team player Megan Rapinoe, Griner said, “Screw the championships and all the trophies and all that; that’s going to be the highest peak of my life right there.”
Griner explained how she looks forward to experiencing the “biggest joy” of sharing the experiences her father gave her with the baby. “I can’t wait to go fishing and off-roading and teach them everything my dad taught me, them coming to me for advice and watching them learn something or figure something out for the first time. That’s going to be the biggest joy,” she said.
The WNBA standout discussed how her overseas imprisonment spurred her to seize the opportunity to have children. “We had talked about having kids before this happened,” she said. “I’m glad we waited because it would’ve destroyed me even more — destroyed us even more — if we had a little one back here while she’s fighting to try to get me out. But when I got back, we were like, ‘Tomorrow’s not guaranteed. We need to stop playing around with time. We need to do this.”’
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Watch Griner’s statement about being called “pops” below:
“We wanted a new chapter of our life. I knew I was going to be done with playing overseas, so we pulled the gun on it,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a little boy on the way, Bash Raymond Griner and I’m super excited for this next chapter of my life,” said Griner. “Anybody who knows me knows I love kids. I’ve always been right there with my nieces, my nephews. I just love family time. The country, down South side of me comes out.”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.