Cherelle Griner is starting to worry Brittney Griner is not coming back as negotiations seemingly stall: 'Do I ever get to see my wife again?'

• Brittney Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, said she's "terrified" she may never see her wife again.

• Cherelle sat for her first interview with CBS's Gayle King since Brittney was sentenced in August.

• "It feels like my wife is stuck in a hostage situation," Cherelle Griner told King this week.

Cherelle Griner is "terrified" that she may never again see her wife, WNBA player Brittney Griner, whom she described as being "stuck in a hostage situation."

Negotiations between the US and Russia have seemingly stalled since the Biden administration said in August it made a proposal to swap Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has also been wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly four years, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence in the US.

Recent reporting, however, suggests a deal still may be a ways away after a White House official said Russia was trying to tack on an additional convict to the proposed prisoner exchange.

The lack of news has Cherelle Griner feeling grim.

In her first interview since Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in August, Cherelle Griner told CBS's Gayle King that the last eight months have felt like a movie.

"In no world did I ever think our president and a foreign nation's president would be sitting down having to discuss the freedom of my wife," she told the outlet.

Brittney Griner was arrested at the Moscow airport in February after officials alleged they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The athlete was in Russia to play with the Russian Premier League during the WNBA off-season.

Griner pleaded guilty to drug smuggling charges in July and was later sentenced to nine years in prison. Legal experts told Insider at the time that Griner's guilty plea was a strategic move in order to try and speed up the process of her return.

The State Department moved her case to the Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs in May, reclassifying her detention as "wrongful" and President Joe Biden has since taken an active role in Brittney Griner's recovery efforts. The president met with Cherelle Griner last month to discuss ongoing efforts to bring her wife home.

"It feels like my wife is stuck in a hostage situation," Cherelle Griner told King this week.

"It terrified me because when you watch movies, sometimes those situations don't end well," she added. "Sometimes they never get the person back."

A Russian court is set to hear an appeal of Brittney Griner's sentence later this month, but the White House said it would be "another sham judicial proceeding."

"I'm sitting here like do we get her back?" Cherelle Griner said. "Do I ever get to see my wife again?"

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