Nikki Bella reflects on ‘traumatising’ split with John Cena

John Cena and Nikki Bella at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards. Picture: Reuters

John Cena and Nikki Bella at the 2017 MTV Movie and TV Awards. Picture: Reuters

Published Jul 22, 2022

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Nikki Bella thinks her break-up with John Cena weeks before they were due to get married would have been less ‘traumatising’ if things had been ‘bad’ between them.

The “Total Bellas” star split from the wrestler in 2018 after six years together, just weeks before they were due to get married. Recently she admitted it was a "hard thing" to walk away from their relationship because there were no major issues between them.

Bella said: “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.

“I think a lot of women get into this situation when it’s like, ‘I love this person, but I don’t know if it’s right for my life’, and that’s a hard thing.

“Sometimes we meet amazing people, but we’re just meant to live a different life. 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 traumatising, I just knew it was right.”

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Bella is thankful she did split from the “Blockers” actor because she has now found happiness with her fiancé, Artem Chigvintsev, and they are proud parents to 23-month-old son Matteo.

She added in an episode of documentary series “Biography: WWE Legends”: “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.”

The 38-year-old star confirmed that she and the Russian-American dancer were “still planning” their wedding.

She said: “We are just trying to figure out this whole family thing with Artem. Praying that we can get Artem’s family, hopefully, to America soon. That is our goal.”

Elsewhere on the show - which focuses on Bella and her twin sister Brie - the wrestler recalled how she asked her mother to leave her father when she was 15 years old or else she’d not come home.

She said: “I felt like as a young girl, I was already a woman and I knew what my mom deserved and it wasn’t the marriage she was in.”

She acknowledged the aftermath of her ultimatum brought her dad to a “deeper, darker place” but ultimately led to his “rebirth”.

She said: “I always want to teach people that even though we can have these upbringings where our parents do drugs or something they shouldn’t do.

“It can always come around in our hearts. We can all become one and become a family, and my dad has learned so much. It’s so beautiful to see his journey in life and the man he’s become. It’s been so amazing.”

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