Nikki Bella Shares Sobering Look Back at John Cena Relationship and Split

Nikki Bella has talked frankly about her breakup with fellow WWE star John Cena. Their six-year romance ended just a few weeks before they tied the knot in 2018. Bella recently explained their relationship was characterized by love, making it difficult to part ways.

It was not the relationship that drove the female wrestler to leave but rather a “feeling so deep in her gut.” Cena is now married to Shay Shariatzadeh, while Bella is engaged to her former Dancing with the Stars partner, Artem Chigvintsev.

Bella spoke to Entertainment Tonight on July 20 about how painful it was when she realized her relationship with Cena was over. Despite being in love with the former wrestler, she had doubts about his suitability for her.

“I think a lot of women get into this situation when it’s like, ‘I love this person, but I don’t know if it’s right for my life,’ and that’s a hard thing,” she said. “Sometimes we meet amazing people, but we’re just meant to live a different life.”

Despite her deep love for the wrestler at the time, Bella stood by her instinct and walked away.”I just got this feeling so deep in my gut of, like, ‘I need to walk away.’ And no one thought I would, but it was hitting me so hard. Even though it’s painful and even traumatizing, I just knew it was right,” she continued.

Her decision to leave Cena was challenging because she was close to him. Ultimately, Bella chose a course of action she felt was in her best interests.”You almost wish it was bad, because it’s so much easier to walk away,” she added. “It’s so much harder to walk away when it’s loving.”

Bella and Cena enjoyed immense popularity among World Wrestling Entertainment viewers at the height of their romance. After anticipating the two walking down the aisle, WWE fans were ecstatic when Cena proposed in front of a crowd during a 2017 match. It was less than a month before their May 2018 wedding that they ended their relationship.

Bella announced their separation to Instagram followers publicly, while Cena left ambiguous messages for his followers. In a tweet, he shared a Walt Whitman quote about surviving a crisis and an Instagram image of a broken heart without words, letting people know he was having trouble coping with his breakup.

During an interview with  Today, the Peacemaker star revealed the breakup was shocking and devastating but thanked Bella for their six years together. “It’s been incredibly reflective, which is amazing, but it is very difficult — I had my heart broken out of nowhere, or for me, it was out of nowhere,” he said on the show. “And anyone who has experienced that knows that it comes with a series of bad feelings.”

Following their breakup, Bella and Cena moved on and dated other people. After dating Shariatzadeh since early 2019, The Marine star married her at a low-key ceremony in Tampa on October 12, 2020. In 2020, Bella and Russian dancer Chigvintsev got engaged. Their child, Matteo Artemovich Chigvintsev, was born on July 31, 2020.

As for whether Cena and Bella are in touch, she previously revealed that the actor congratulated her and her sister Brie after giving birth. “He reached out to Brie and I both. We haven’t had an individual conversation in, gosh, I don’t know how long, but it was very short and sweet!” Bella said told US Weekly in November 2020.