Sandra Griner Has a Mental Disorder – Facts about Brittney Griner’s Mother

Sandra Griner has struggled with Schizophrenia for many years, leaving her unable to care for her children. Although Brittney Griner was a daddy’s girl growing up, the WNBA player still maintained a close relationship with her mom, who was the first to learn about her daughter’s sexuality.

The youngest of four children, Brittney had a difficult childhood, growing up just outside of Houston. Before becoming a controversial WNBA star, Brittney was a young girl coming to terms with her sexuality and navigating her mother’s mental illness.

Despite her daughter’s fame, Sandra has led a private life. Although little is known about the mother of four, her daughter has candidly opened up about Sandra’s mental health and how the mother and daughter have managed to maintain a close bond despite Sandra suffering from Schizophrenia, which left her unable to care for her children.

During an interview, Brittney revealed that growing up, Sandra often had erratic behavior and was an unreliable presence due to her Schizophrenia. Brittney shared:

“My mother vacillated wildly between affection, praise, bouts of intense creativity and joy, and seemingly infinite rounds of melancholy, listlessness, and abuse.”

However, within her family of six, the WNBA player found security in her father. A confessed daddy’s girl, Brittney recalled finding a sense of steadiness in her father as her mother’s mental illness left her unable to care for her four children.

“I don’t know who I’d be without my daddy, an oasis of steadiness in the desert of my mother’s absence,” Brittney shared. The basketball star tenderly recalled resting her head on her father’s stomach, stomping around the house in his shoes that were too big for her, and the walks they enjoyed together.

Sandra’s husband, Raymond, was also the one who set such a high standard for his daughter’s work ethic. Although her mother’s height comes in at around 5’8, Raymond is a whopping 6’2. So Brittney, who was always taller than most of her schoolmates, was already 6 feet by the time she was a freshman.

Although her height indicated a potential basketball career, Sandra’s daughter was initially interested in volleyball and soccer before discovering her love of basketball. Sandra has lived out of the public eye despite her daughter’s fame. At the time of publication, she had two private Instagram accounts, one account with eight followers and another account that had amassed 45 followers.

Although little is known about Sandra, her daughter has occasionally taken to social media to share about her mother, including one of Sandra’a academic accolades. In 2015, Brittney turned to Facebook to share a photo of her in a red graduation cap and gown and gushed about how proud she was of Sandra.

While Sandra’s husband was a police officer, she was a homemaker. She welcomed her youngest child on October 18, 1990, at St. Joseph’s Hospital in downtown Houston. Born at ten pounds and eleven ounces, Brittney had been the biggest baby the hospital had delivered that day.

Despite Sandra’s battle with a mental disorder, she has kept a close relationship with her daughter. In 2014, Brittney posted a picture with her mother and shared:

“My mom. You are my rock. You are always there for me when I ran in the house, cut up or hurt. You are my doctor/nurse/best friend/heart/ my everything. The number one woman in my life…Best believe my mom is the strongest person I know, with the biggest heart in the world (sic).”

Before kickstarting her WNBA career, Brittney was in middle school when she came out as gay to her mother. However, although Sandra was happy for her daughter, her father reacted negatively and kicked his daughter out of the house.

Her daughter came to terms with her sexuality, sharing, “My dad and mom have always told me, ‘Be who you are,'” Sandra walked her daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. However, after less than a month of marriage, Britteny Griner and her ex-wife went their separate ways.