Brittney Griner Thanked Supporters With a Handwritten Letter Posted to IG

22.12.2022 - 19:03 / glamour.com

can at last speak to her supporters on her own behalf. And on December 21, the WNBA star did just that, with a handwritten letter posted to Instagram thanking everyone who wrote to her while she was in prison.

Perhaps even more importantly, Griner urged everyone who supported her to now write letters of support to Paul Whelan, another American who remains unfairly imprisoned by the Russian government. “I want to personally take the time to write to you and say that your efforts mattered,” Griner's letter reads. “Your letters helped me to not lose hope during a time where I was full of regret and vulnerable in ways I could have never imagined.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. Because of you I never lost hope.” In the post caption, the basketball star wrote simply, “Thank you.

Your words matter.” She also tagged Glamour's Women of the Year Awards, where this year in an emotional speech to the audience.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.The letters she received were important to Griner not just because they lifted her spirits, her note continues, but because they, “showed me the power of collective hands. Together, we can do hard things.” Crediting her letter-writers with helping to make her family whole again, Griner takes a moment to remind everyone of the other people still wrongfully detained.

“I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families.” While the , they were not able at the same time to do the same for Whelan, an ex-marine who has been detained in Russia for nearly four years. In a phone interview with , Whelan said he was glad that Griner was freed, but he's still frustrated that more hasn't been