WWE Hall Of Famer Nikki Garcia Speaks Out After Divorce
Nikki Garcia is opening up to her fans about going through a divorce with the father of her son.
A domestic incident in August led to Nikki Garcia’s husband Artem Chigvintsev being arrested after a domestic incident at their home in California. Artem was arrested for domestic battery. However, prosecutors later declined to file charges due to insufficient evidence.
Before when they began dating, Artem was a dancing pro on Dancing with the Stars and Nikki was his partner. After her relationship ended with WWE legend John Cena ended, the couple started dating and were married in August 2022.
It was reported in late November that Nikki and Artem reached a divorce settlement that would give them shared custody of their four-year-old son Matteo. The marriage lasted about two years.
While Nikki Garcia is a WWE Hall of Famer with her sister Brie as a team known as The Bella Twins, the sisters also had a lot of success out of the ring on the reality shows Total Divas and Total Bellas that aired throughout the 2010s on E Network with the final Total Bellas episode airing in January 2021.
Nikki and Brie no longer have a reality TV show, but Nikki went on their Nikki & Brie Podcast to speak about her divorce for the first time.
“First, I want to thank everyone—listeners, you, family, friends, co-workers, people I haven’t talked to in a long time. Just for all of the love and support, for the respect of privacy and space. I needed to disconnect because first things first, I’m a mom and my son’s protection and privacy is the most important. So, I was going to do whatever it took for that, most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head on. All of that.
It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken, [and] sad. You dream of having this family, and you have this incredible love, and it just goes the other way. And you go from having a great love story to having a terrible one. I never saw any of it coming as far as what the ending would be. It’s been a struggle.
I know being a public figure, I have to say a little bit about this. And after this, I don’t want to ever talk about it again because I truly do want privacy for Matteo. That has been the most important part. But obviously, I’ve had a public relationship. I’m a public figure, so I have to talk about what’s gone on a little bit. I do want to continue to protect Matteo in that way.”
Nikki Garcia “Didn’t Want To Have Another Failed Public Relationship”
As she continued, the proud mom Nikki Garcia spoke about trying hard to stay together with Artem for their son Matteo, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
“I didn’t want to have another failed public relationship. And more than any of that, I wanted it for Matteo. It always comes back to him. You fight for your kids. You want to stick together because that’s what the kids want. And I tried really hard.”
During her WWE career, Nikki Garcia was a two-time Divas Champion and she was part of the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame class that was inducted in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic the year prior.