John Cena's Ex Nikki Bella Opens Up About the Pain of Still Loving Him After Traumatizing Break-Up
Nikki Bella reminisced about her “traumatizing” split from ex-fiancé, John Cena, days after his second wedding to wife Shay Shariatzadeh in Canada. The Total Bellas alum admitted that she “knew it was right” at the time to end her long-term relationship with the WWE star.
"You almost wish it was bad, because it’s so much easier to walk away. It's so much harder to walk away when it's loving," she said in an exclusive interview with ET Online previously. "I think a lot of women get into that situation and it’s like, ‘But I love this person, but I don’t know if it’s right for my life,’ and that’s a hard thing about life, is we meet amazing people, but sometimes we’re just meant to live a different life.” she continued.
Speaking about her intuition and knowing that their relationship was over, she said, "I just got this feeling so deep in my gut of, like, 'I need to walk away.' And no one thought I would, but it was hitting me so hard. Even though it's painful and even traumatizing, I just knew it was right." The Peacemaker actor was previously against having kids of his own, which was one of the contributing factors to his and Nikki’s split.
This reflection on her “loving” six-year relationship with her ex, John, which lasted from 2012 to 2018, comes days after Cena and Shay, 33, celebrated their marriage with a second wedding in Vancouver, Canada. According to Life & Style Magazine, John and Shay tied the knot on October 12, 2020, in a private ceremony in Tampa, Florida. Sources were quoted saying in March of 2020 “In John’s eyes, Shay is the whole package. She’s beautiful, intelligent, kind, independent and family-orientated and there’s rarely any drama between them.”
Today, Nikki is engaged to Russian Dancing With the Stars pro, Artem Chigvintsev. They got engaged in 2019, and in 2020 the star couple became parents to son Matteo, who will soon turn three years old. Speaking about her current relationship she said, "This is when I know how God is good -- and believing your gut and intuition and following through, good things happen. It's hard to see it in the moment." With regard to their nuptials, she said, "We are just trying to figure out this whole family thing with Artem."
Niki was also recently in the news, along with her sister Brie Bella, for changing her last name from Bella to Garcia. This came along with a decision to part ways with WWE. The announcement was made on their SiriusXM podcast, The Nikki and Brie Show, where they explained their decision. "When our contract came up with WWE, mutually we all knew we just needed to head into this new chapter," Nikki shared in the episode.
