Nikki Bella’s Sister Brie Initially Didn’t Want Her to Date ‘DWTS’ Pro Artem Chigvintsev

Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev may have Brie Bella‘s full approval now, but the Total Bellas star wasn’t always a fan of the two getting together.

Bella told Us Weekly Friday ahead of Wrestlemania that her twin’s initial disapproval had to do with the love she still had for Bella’s fiancé John Cena after the two called off their wedding in April 2018 after five years.

“My sister was like, ‘No,’ for Artem in the beginning because she was so in love with John,” Bella, 35, said of the start of her relationship with her former Dancing With the Stars partner. “Now she absolutely adores [Artem].”

Brie chimed in, “Yeah … I mean, now I’m more like, ‘Whatever my sister wants.’ I was Team John for so long because, you know, he was my brother.”

Just because Brie is in favor of her sister’s new romance doesn’t mean she’s not still rooting for Cena and her sister to have a future together.

“If they get back together, I’d love it,” Brie continued. “So I’d never give Artem the time of day because I was like, ‘No, they’re getting back together, so I don’t care about you.’ But now … now I’ve finally given Artem a chance and he’s super sweet.”

After months of being spotted out and about together in Los Angeles, Bella and the dancer confirmed they were seeing on another in the March season finale of Total Bellas.

“I’m ready to really explore new things and people and just really see what certain chemistries are all about,” she confessed at the time.

That being said, Bella has made it clear she and her former partner are keeping things casual for now.

“Artem and I are dating. We are not engaged, we are not married, we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, we don’t say ‘I love you,’” Bella told her sister on the first episode of The Bellas Podcast.

“Yeah, we’re dating. … There’s been a lot of speculation about us … but I’m still dating [other people],” she continued. “We’re having fun. He’s showing me L.A.”

The new couple kept things on the down low since first linking up over the holidays because of the media frenzy surrounding her last relationship, she revealed, with sister Brie chiming in, “If her ex was seen dating someone, they’d be like, ‘Right on!’ If they see her dating someone, suddenly she’s called a whore or a slut. That’s why she felt like she had to live in a cave.”

Cena, meanwhile, appears to be moving on as well, having been spotted with engineer Shay Shariatzadeh while in Canada in March.

Photo credit: ABC