WNBA star Brittney Griner has been going through a tough time this year. She was arrested in Russia on charges of smuggling banned substances in February. And she was then sentenced to nine years in jail by a Russian court. She also had a tough upbringing as she was forced to wear girls’ clothes by her mom, despite being very uncomfortable.

Griner had a difficult time when she was growing up. She used to have trouble getting into the women’s bathroom. Many times when she was in other countries playing basketball, many of them complained about her. But she didn’t want to cause any trouble so sometimes she even used the men’s bathroom.

But she was not happy with the gender roles that were as a child for her.

Brittney Griner was uncomfortable when she wore girly clothes

Griner reveals how she grew up and the troubles as a child. She said,” I don’t like labels. But are instilled in you as a kid. I was told to pick which one I wanted to be-masculine or feminine. I’m like, well, I kind of want to be both because that’s who I am. I mean, sometimes I’m feminine, sometimes I’m emotional.”?

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“And then sometimes you see me on the court, and I’m hard-core, and then how I dress is masculine. If I put on something ‘girlie’, I feel very uncomfortable. It feels like something I shouldn’t be wearing. I wore a dress for my high school graduation and it sucked.”?she added.

“My mom wanted me to wear a dress so bad. I forced a smile in a couple of photos for her, but I was the most absolute uncomfortable person.”?

Griner said that when she revealed her orientation to her parents, things became better. And when she took little steps, she got feedback, and that mattered to her. She hoped that she could have taken the decision of wearing whatever she wanted at an earlier age itself. And believes her life would have been way easier.

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Brittney Griner is an eight-time WNBA All-Star, an eight-time WNBA blocks leader, and a two-time WNBA scoring leader. She also won two Olympic gold medals in 2016 and 2020.

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