Nikki Garcia believed she had at last discovered her happily ever after.
Garcia got back in touch with her Season 25 Dancing With the Stars partner, Artem Chigvintsev, for what would turn into a fast-paced romance in early 2019, just after she called off her engagement to fellow WWE superstar John Cena.
The couple engaged in November and had their 4-year-old son, Matteo, shortly after.
“Artem is the first person I’ve been with where I feel like I can be Nicole and never fear he’s going to leave me for it,” Garcia, 41, said at the time, calling Chigvintsev, 42, “the sweetest soul you’ll ever meet.”
Garcia frequently made headlines for her TMI comments about their chemistry in the bedroom after they were married in the summer of 2022, and they appeared to have a strong marriage.
The former member of Total Divas once joked with Us Weekly about her candour, saying, "He gets very embarrassed. He detests it!"
However, police were called to the couple's house in Napa Valley, California, last August, just days after their second wedding anniversary, after Garcia and Chigvintsev allegedly got into a fight.
The professional dancer from Russia was taken into custody and charged with domestic assault.
In the weeks that followed, Garcia and Chigvintsev submitted temporary restraining orders against one another and filed for divorce.
The August encounter, in which Garcia said that Chigvintsev had "tackled me multiple times and pinned me to the ground while our child was present," was one of several prior physical altercations she described in her filing.
The two went on to settle their divorce and agreed to “drop the domestic violence restraining orders against each other in an effort to move on with their lives and effectively co-parent their son,” the outlet reported at that time.
Garcia took a break from social media to digest everything and mourn the dissolution of her marriage because she was devastated by what had happened and was determined to keep her son safe. Additionally, she took a three-month hiatus from hosting the Nikki & Brie Show podcast with her twin sister, Brie.
The fog is finally beginning to clear now. The wrestling legend, who made her Raw homecoming on January 6 after a nearly two-year break, is concentrating on being a mother and possibly making a comeback to WWE.
“I’m definitely finding more moments of joy,” she told the outlet in the latest cover story, adding that she feels “stronger” every day. “[I’m] excited to just live this new era of me.”
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