Women's National Basketball Association
(WNBA) All-Star Brittney Griner has filed a petition to annul her
28-day marriage to Glory Johnson, a forward with the Tulsa Shock.
The women, both 24, exchanged vows last
month in Arizona, just weeks after police were called to the couple's
home in Goodyear and both were arrested on allegations of assault and
disorderly conduct. Griner subsequently pleaded guilty to disorderly
conduct. She has agreed to undergo 26 weeks of counseling.
Both players were suspended seven games
by the WNBA.
Griner, a Phoenix Mercury center, said
in her annulment, filed June 5, that her marriage was “void based
on fraud and duress,” adding that she was pressured to marry
Johnson with “threatening statements.”
The filing came a day after Johnson
announced that she was pregnant on Instagram.
Griner told ESPN that her wife's
pregnancy came as a surprise and called the marriage a “huge
mistake.”
“Sometimes you feel pressured into
things. I went along with it,” she said.
Griner's annulment states that she has
“no biological connection to petitioner and the unborn child.”
Greg Davis, a family-law lawyer in
Scottsdale, Arizona, told The New York Times that under
Arizona law there is a presumption that children conceived during a
marriage belong to both spouses.
Johnson, who previously said that she
is not a lesbian, told the AP that she was “not expecting to have
our marriage end so abruptly.”
“I am ready to begin focusing on my
health, pregnancy and am going to remain in Tulsa to continue to
build my relationship with the Tulsa Shock organization, and my
teammates,” she said in an email. “I appreciate the support of
my fans, family and loved ones and look forward to returning to the
basketball court as soon as I can.”