Nikki Bella Congratulates Ex-Fiance John Cena on His Marriage to Shay Shariatzadeh

Nikki Bella is sending her congratulations to ex-fiance John Cena after he tied the knot to Shay Shariatzadeh. The congratulatory message, which is now more than a month in the making, came while Bella appeared on the Tuesday, Dec. 1 episode of Lisa Vanderpump's All Things Vanderpump podcast.

Reading off fan-submitted questions, Vanderpump asked Bella if she had congratulated Cena on his low-key nuptials to Shariatzadeh. Cena and Shariatzadeh said "I do" at a Tampa, Florida, at an attorney's office in mid-October. However, more than a month later, Bella admitted, "I haven't … but yeah, I didn't" send the newlyweds her congratulations. According to Us Weekly, the Total Bellas star went on to question, "are there rules? Am I supposed to? Should I send flowers?"

Brie Bella assured her twin sister that her lack of congratulations isn't necessarily out of the norm, as she hadn't sent one to her ex when he got married. Brie said that by that point, they were "done for so long that I didn't congratulate him." She said that he also hadn't congratulated her when she married Daniel Bryan in 2014. Vanderpump advised Bella to "get out of this really elegantly" by sending Cena a kind message. This prompted Bella to finally send a message to her ex, stating, "John, congratulations on your wedding. I'm very, very happy for you."

Bella and the actor and pro wrestler had begun dating in 2012. Six years later, Cena had popped the question in front of millions of fans at WrestleMania 33 2017. Just days after the former couple had last been spotted together in public at Wrestlemania 34 on April 8, Bella on April 15, 2018, confirmed that she and Cena had called off their engagement to go their separate ways. At the time, Bella said the decision "was a difficult one," adding that she and Cena "continue to have a great deal of love and respect for one another." Speaking during the Dec. 1 podcast, Bella revealed that the reason for their split was in large part due to them wanting "different things" in the long run.

"I really wanted to be a mom and he didn't want to be a father. But then, in the end, he was like, 'Look, I will give you a kid,' but I knew deep down in his heart it's not what he wanted," she said. "And I was so afraid that years down the road, he would just have regrets and resent me for making him a father."

Since their split, both Cena and Bella have gone on to find love. Cena and Shariatzadeh were first linked in March of 2019 and tied the knot in October of this year. Bella, meanwhile, moved on with Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev. The two became engaged in November of 2019 and welcomed their first child together, son Matteo, in July of this year.