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Nikki Bella Reveals She ‘Played Up’ Artem Romance Publicly to Avoid ‘Another Failed Relationship’
Nikki Garcia, formerly known as Nikki Bella, made a surprising admission while breaking her silence about her divorce from Artem Chigvintsev. The former WWE star said she publicly “played up” that things were much happier between the two than they really were.
“I wanted [him] to heal. I wanted [him] to get help … because that’s what my son deserves,” Nikki, 41, explained during her return to the “Nikki and Brie Show” podcast on Monday, December 2, referring to Artem, 42. The former couple share a son, Matteo.
“It’s sad. [The relationship] hasn’t been great for a long time. I really played it up like things were a lot better than they were in the public eye. I felt like, ‘If I can just put this person on a pedestal … maybe they can believe that in themselves,'” she added about the former Dancing With the Stars pro.
Nikki also had reasons of her own other than Artem’s feelings to have made their relationship appear outwardly happier than it was.
“I didn’t want another failed public relationship,” she said, referring to her longtime romance with former fiancé John Cena. The pair were together for six years before calling it quits in 2018. Later that year, Nikki began dating Artem, who was her season 25 pro partner on DWTS. The two got engaged in November 2019 and married in August 2022, after welcoming Matteo in July 2020.
Of her split from Artem, Nikki admitted, “I’ve been heartbroken. You dream of having this family and you have this incredible love, and it just goes the other way. You go from having a great love story to having a terrible one.”
Three days after the former couple publicly professed their love on their second wedding anniversary, Artem was arrested on August 29 on a felony domestic violence charge at their home in Napa, California. The case was dismissed the following month, but Nikki filed for divorce on September 11. The exes settled their divorce via a private mediation on November 20.
The Total Bellas alum stayed away from social media since Artem’s arrest and had not publicly commented on the split except through a rep. Nikki last appeared on the podcast she shares with her twin sister on August 28, one day prior to Artem’s arrest.
“I disconnected from social media, from the world, and I just knew that I needed to disconnect because first things first, I’m a mom and my son’s protection and privacy is the most important,” she explained. “I was going to do whatever it took for that most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head-on.”
“You sit there, and you go, I shared my life with this person. I thought it was so different,” she said. “Just to see what someone can do. You know, we’re a family. No matter what, at the end of the day, even when two people divorce, if you have children, you’re still a family.”
Nikki said the entire experience has “been heartbreaking” for her and something she didn’t foresee.
“This whole situation’s been really just hard to wrap my head around it. I never would have thought,” she noted. “You couldn’t have told me how the ending of my 2024 would have been. I would have thought you were crazy. But the one thing that I have realized disconnecting from the world, when you know the truth, nothing else matters.”
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