Brittney Griner
Griner spent 10 months in a Russian jail cell after they convicted her of smuggling drugs. The reality was that she had cannabis oil for personal use. Russia saw an opportunity to turn her into a political pawn. Eventually, the U.S. government traded her for some Russian prisoners and she returned to her homeland.

However, it’s easy to forget that she wasn’t always a sympathetic figure. Griner infamously had a physical fight with her pregnant fiancee in public. Police intervened and it damaged her reputation. Meanwhile, the unhappy couple married but divorced very quickly as they infuriated everybody (via SBS).