Nikki Bella Says She’s Cautious About Marrying Artem Chigvintsev

America’s Got Talent: Extreme judge Nikki Bella has been engaged to Dancing With the Stars pro Artem Chigvintsev since November 2019, but she is cautious about marrying him. Her outlook on marriage has changed significantly in the months since their son, Matteo, was born in July 2020. Bella was previously married to a high school sweetheart when she was 20 and then was in a long-term relationship with John Cena before they called off their engagement in early 2018.

“Once I had Matteo and I started to raise him, I was like, when I say ‘I do,’ I want to make sure it’s forever,” Bella, 38, told E! News’ Daily Pop on Monday. “I know there are things that Artem wants too-like he really wants his parents there-but also, overall, I don’t want my son to go through a divorce.” Bella’s “very public” past relationship with Cena is another reason why she doesn’t want to rush into a marriage.

Before they tie the knot, Bella and Chigvintsev, 39, want to be “absolutely” sure that marriage is what they want to do. They are already happy with their status quo now, with Bella calling their arrangement “amazing… It’s pretty much like a married life.” Later, Bella said she wants to be “with someone who was going to be an amazing father, and Artem is that.”

Bella recently filmed the first season of AGT: Extreme, which is now airing on NBC Mondays at 8 p.m. ET. The former WWE Superstar already awarded her first golden buzzer to Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, a Las Vegas wheelchair motocross athlete born with spina bifida. Bella jokingly told E! News that she must “have something inside of me” that enjoys watching people perform dangerous stunts after she performed in the WWE ring for 15 years.

As for Chigvintsev, he was forced to sit out several dates of the Dancing With the Stars Live! tour because of pneumonia. Thankfully, he felt well enough to return to the tour late last month, joining his fellow dancers for shows in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Bella and Chigvintsev met on DWTS in 2017, but they didn’t start dating until January 2019.

In a November 2021 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Bella said it was important for Chigvintsev to have his parents at the wedding, and that was one reason for the delay. “The one promise I made him before we can plan, is that his parents can attend, and with where the world’s at right now and trying to get two Russian parents into the country, it’s almost impossible,” Bella explained at the time. “So, the day I can get two visas is the day we will set our date and say, ‘I do.’”