WNBA star Brittney Griner revealed a controversial name she wishes her newborn son to call her.
Griner and wife Cherelle welcomed their first child together 19 months after the WNBA star’s release from a Russian penal colony.
The 33-year-old revealed over the WNBA All-Star weekend that their baby boy had arrived, admitting she is over the moon to welcome their bundle of joy to the world.
However, the basketball star also revealed that she did not wish to be known as ‘mom’, opting instead for ‘pops’.
In an interview with CBS Sports’ We Need To Talk, anchor Terrika Foster-Brasby excitedly congratulated Griner, saying, ‘You’re about to be a mom!’
Brittney Griner revealed that she wishes to be known as ‘pops’ not mom by her son
But the Phoenix Mercury center playfully interjected to correct her, saying, ‘Pops! Pops!’
Griner swiftly brushed off the moment, going on to reveal that her son had actually already been born.
‘I’m super excited,’ she said when asked about the pregnancy. ‘Well, I mean I guess I’ll just drop it… he’s here. Seven pounds eight ounces. Yeah, that’s my man!’
Several basketball fans were left confused by Griner’s less traditional parenting decision, with one even asking: ‘If she refers to herself as “pops” then why would she want to play in a women’s league?’
Another took to social media to ask: ‘They allowing men into the WNBA now ???’
Despite fans’ confusion, Griner has maintained that she is a biological woman and identifies as female.
In a 2015 interview with ESPN, Griner opened up on her body and the criticism she’s had to endure.
‘I’m sure people are going to have a lot of critical things to say,’ she said referring to the photos of herself featured in ESPN’s ‘Body Issue.’
Griner (right) and wife Cherelle (left) welcomed their first child together – a baby boy
Several basketball fans were left confused by Griner’s less traditional parenting decision
‘”Yo, she’s a man!” But hey, that’s my body and I look the way I look. People are either going to accept me for who I am or they’re not. I don’t know what people think I’m hiding.
‘I’ve heard, “Oh, she’s not a female, she’s a male.” I’ve been told, “Oh, she’s tucking stuff.” They thought I was tucking. I mean, [in the Body Issue] it’s out there. Let me show that I embrace the flatness! I just want people to see somebody who embraces being naked, embraces everything about them being different.’
She also revealed that growing up she was called a boy and has even been forced out of the women’s bathroom.
‘I got called a boy all the time,’ she said. ‘Going into the bathroom, I still get the shocked look, like, “Are you supposed to be in here?” But I’m so used to it now, I’m just like, “I’m a girl, I’m in the right bathroom.”
The WNBA champion and her wife announced they were expecting a baby back in April
‘In China, it happens all the time! One time when I went into the bathroom there, a lady was so shocked that she was pushing me out; she was so hysterically shocked that I was in there. I couldn’t do anything but laugh.’
She also added that she doesn’t like labels, feeling both feminine and masculine, but was felt forced to pick one as a child.
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 infamously released from a Russian penal colony after being arrested in Moscow
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.
