Anyone who has ever gone through a serious breakup knows that they can be difficult to recover from. As a result, it’s fairly common for people to not want to spend much time talking about their former romantic partners. For that reason, former professional wrester and reality TV star Nikki Bella chose to keep a huge part of her dating history to herself. What many people, including Nikki’s ex-boyfriend, John Cena, didn’t know was that Nikki had previously been married. Nikki was so tight-lipped about the secret that her own mother didn’t even know. So, what was the deal with Nikki’s marriage? Keep reading to find out about Nikki Bella’s secret marriage.
The Details Surrounding Nikki’s Marriage
Usually when people get married they want to share the good news with the world. Unfortunately, however, that wasn’t the case for Nikki. During an episode of Total Divas back in 2014, Nikki finally opened up about the situation. She said, “I got married when I was 20 and got divorced at 23 to my high school sweetheart. Basically, we got married by Elvis. We drove to Vegas, did it, and even when I started walking down the aisle, I know this was a huge mistake [like] how can I get out of it, and I couldn’t and I tried to forget about it.”
Shortly after opening up to her family about the short-lived marriage, she told John. He quickly put her at ease by saying, “What you did before you met me is what you did before you met me, I don’t need to know everything about you. It’s just when you can tell other people and I kind of would like to be on that totem pole somewhere — I don’t have to be at the top, I just would like to be on it.”
Outside of sharing the fact that she was married to her high school sweetheart, Nikki has never shared any additional information about the identity of her ex-husband.
Why Nikki And John Broke Up
When Nikki Bella and John Cena were together, they seemed to be a perfect match. In fact, many considered them wrestling royalty when they were together. When the couple called off their wedding and ended their six year relationship, lots of people were completely shocked. Despite the breakup, it appears that the couple’s split wasn’t due to anything dramatic. Instead, they simply weren’t on the same page about what they wanted for their futures. Apparently, Nikki really wanted to have kids and John wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about the idea.
During an interview with Today, Nikki said:
Even in the end when he was willing to give me kids, I could just tell it’s not what we wanted. And that’s really, like, you know, what pushed me in the end, was like, if I’m going to force someone to be a father. I’ll never forget, I think it was my life coach, he goes, ‘What if he looks at you down the road and just regrets everything, and then you have this child and you’ve built this life? Is that what you want?’ And I remember thinking, that’s not what I want. I don’t want to force someone to change.”
Although the decision to go their separate ways wasn’t easy on either of them, they both felt that it was the best thing. At the end of the day, sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you love each other if you don’t want the same things out of life.
Nikki Is Enjoying Her New Journey Of Motherhood
After her split from John, it didn’t take Nikki long to get back into the dating game. In 2019, she started dating Artem Chigvintsev who was her partner on Dancing with the Stars. At the beginning of 2020, the couple announced their engagement and a few weeks later Nikki shared that she and Artem were expecting their first child. Nikki gave birth to their son in July of 2020.
Even though Nikki is very happy in her current relationship, she admits that John Cena will always have a special place in her heart. During an interview with US Magazine, Nikki revealed that John reached out to her and her sister, Brie, after they both gave birth. Nikki said, “We haven’t had an individual conversation in gosh, I don’t know how long, but it was very short and sweet!”
Nikki and John’s love stories may not have ended the way either one of them hoped, but it looks like they each got their own version of a happily ever after.
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