{"id":857915,"date":"2026-09-23T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857915\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T15:38:11","slug":"i-need-help-paying-the-bills-inside-the-chaotic-multimillion-dollar-divorce-that-is-casting-a-shadow-over-brittney-griners-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/857915\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI need help paying the bills\u201d: Inside the chaotic, multimillion-dollar divorce that is casting a shadow over Brittney Griner’s season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brittney Griner\u2019s divorce is adding another layer of uncertainty to a difficult WNBA<\/a> season, with her estranged wife asking the court to consider the stark gap between their incomes when deciding support.<\/p>\n

The Connecticut Sun star filed for divorce in Fulton County, Georgia, after eight years of marriage, while Cherelle Griner\u00a0has asked the court for financial support and joint legal custody of their two-year-old son.<\/p>\n

Brittney Griner says she thought about killing herself during first few weeks in Russian jailABC News 20\/20 – LAPRESSE<\/p>\n

Cherelle says the marriage ended on July 24 and describes it as \u201cirretrievably broken with no hope for reconciliation,\u201d whilst she also notes that Brittney earns substantially more than she does.<\/p>\n

In court documents, she says there is a \u201csubstantial disparity\u201d in their income and that she is \u201cunable to meet her reasonable financial needs on a monthly basis without continued support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brittney is playing for the Sun on a reported one-year contract worth more than $1 million, placing her earnings at the center of the request as the divorce case moves forward.<\/p>\n

Cherelle, who is an attorney, also wants joint legal custody of Bash, with the court determining physical custody and parenting time according to the child\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n

\"Brittney<\/p>\n

Brittney (L) and a pregnant Cheryl (R) Griner\u00a0Instagram<\/p>\n

Sun slump to latest defeat as dismal WNBA season continues<\/p>\n

The developments come at a bad time for Brittney as her first season with Connecticut has also been a difficult one, with the Sun sitting at 10-33 after Tuesday\u2019s loss to the Washington Mystics.
Shakira Austin scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Mystics defeated Connecticut 79-69 on September 22.<\/p>\n

Diamond Miller led Connecticut with 19 points, whilst\u00a0Leila Lacan and Raegan Beers each scored 11. Washington used a 15-4 run to build a double-digit lead late in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

The result left Connecticut with 10 wins and 33 losses, while Washington improved to 27-16 and secured a franchise-record 27th victory. Neither team\u2019s immediate fortunes erase the off-court drama.<\/p>\n

The Sun will now host the Toronto Tempo on September 24 in the regular-season finale for both teams, with neither side qualifying for the postseason as Connecticut prepare to relocate to Texas to become the Houston Comets.<\/p>\n

The team had reached the WNBA Semifinals in 2024, but this season has taken a very different path as they prepare to close the campaign with a second successive losing record.<\/p>\n

The team finished 11-33 in 2025 and will finish at best 11-33 in 2026. For Griner, the divorce proceedings now add a separate legal and financial issue to an already challenging season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brittney Griner\u2019s divorce is adding another layer of uncertainty to a difficult WNBA season, with her estranged wife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-857915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}