John Cena, Nikki Bella Would Go ‘Months’ Without Seeing One Another Before Split

Absence sometimes doesn’t make the heart grow fonder, at least not in the case of Nikki Bella and John Cena, who announced they had ended their relationship and called off their wedding Sunday.

One month before the split, Cena spoke to Us Weekly about his relationship and admitted the two had to work hard at their relationship because they rarely saw one another.

“Anytime I get upset, I always just realize that I can’t live without her and I love her and that’s why I cave in on a lot of stuff. It takes being able to mesh two lives,” he said in March. “She’s super busy and sometimes we don’t see each other for months at a time, but when we do see each other, it’s our time and it’s our time together. I think, for now at least, that is certainly what’s making this work.”

Cena and Bella first started dating six years ago, and got engaged in front of millions of fans at WrestleMania 33 in 2017. After planning to tie the knot on May 5 in Mexico, Bella announced the two had separated in a statement on Instagram.

“After much contemplation and 6 years of being together Nikki Bella and John Cena announced today their decision to separate as a couple,” the statement reads. “‘While this decision was a difficult one, we continue to have a great deal of love and respect for one another. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time in our lives.’”

While promoting the Kids’ Choice Awards, which Cena hosted, he told Us Weekly that that their relationship was not always as perfect as it seemed.

“Relationships are hard, don’t ever think that love is easy. Love is beautiful but we’ve had to come to the realization being together for five years that love is not easy and we work every day on us,” he said. “We have our problems just like everybody else. Some of our problems are very public, some of them aren’t. But we work every day on us.”

After the split, a source close to the couple told the publication that it was Bella who called things off, and that she was unhappy with some of the things he had said while doing press for his new movie Blockers. The two had also clashed in the past over Cena’s aversion to marriage and children.

“She’s in a place where she’s just exhausted by some of the things going on in the relationship. John is the love of her life [and] she adores him,” the source said. “They still speak. It’s just very hard. But right now, she has to focus on herself.”

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