Nikki Garcia is sharing her feelings about her split from Artem Chigvintsev for the first time.
The former WWE star, 41, made her return to The Nikki & Brie Show on Monday, Dec. 2, after a three-month hiatus following her ex-husband’s arrest on Aug. 28 for suspected corporal injury to a spouse.
This comes just days after she and Chigvintsev finalized their divorce through private mediation on Nov. 21.
During the episode, Nikki expressed her intention to remain composed while discussing the past few months.
She explained, “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.
So I was gonna do whatever it took for that most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head on, all of that,” referring to her 4-year-old son Matteo, whom she shares with Chigvintsev.
“It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken. Sad. You know, 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. And I never saw any of it coming, you know, as far as, like, what the ending would be.”
She shared that her son has remained her top priority during the end of her relationship and the ensuing legal battle.
Nikki also reflected on her relationship with the former DWTS pro, whom she married in 2022, admitting, “When it came to our relationship, it’s sad. Like, it just hasn’t been great for a long time. And I really played it up [that] things were a lot better than what they were in the public eye, which I have regrets in that because what I felt was, like, if I can just put this person on a pedestal and maybe if this person hears it enough, what I believe in them, they can believe that in themselves.”
She acknowledged that dealing with the split publicly has been a “struggle,” as people were being “fed lies” about her.
After his arrest on Aug. 28, Chigvintsev did not face criminal charges, and both he and Nikki have claimed that the other was the aggressor in the incident that led to the arrest.
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