‘Total Divas’ Star Nikki Bella Pranks Paparazzi With Fake Romance After John Cena Split

Nikki Bella just wanted a little privacy following her split from John Cena, but paparazzi looking to catch her in some of her most vulnerable moments weren’t willing to give that to her. So she decided to fight back.

In Wednesday’s all-new episode of Total Divas, Nikki was spending time with her fellow WWE women in a trip to Miami, Florida to celebrate Nia Jax and Lana’s birthday. But a jacuzzi moment with Nia, Paige and sister Brie Bella turned into an uncomfortable moment for the WWE star when they spotted paparazzi trying to take her photo sneakily.

“The media has just been more involved in my life, and it just doesn’t make me feel good,” she admitted. “I feel like I can’t escape, like I’m a prisoner who has no freedom.”

And the paps kept coming throughout the trip.

“Babe, they’re after you,” Paige told Nikki when a group accosted them during a beachy brunch.

“They wanna see who I’m gonna grind on,” Nikki joked, adding later to the cameras, “The paparazzi are hounding us everywhere we’re going. I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know how to handle it … I guess I just didn’t think people cared that much.”

She continued, “I’m like, just go find someone else to bug.”

Nikki declared she was “over it,” and decided to start some rumors, calling over the group’s bartender to talk closely with her and flirt within the photographers’ eye line. (It worked!)

Nikki and her longtime beau Cena split in April, calling off their wedding after getting engaged at WrestleMania the year prior.

“After much contemplation and 6 years of being together Nikki Bella and John Cena announced today their decision to separate as a couple,” the couple said in a statement at the time. “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.”

On Total Bellas most recent season, it came to light that not only were Nikki’s feelings about motherhood part of the reason they decided to call things off, but deeper issues the E! personality couldn’t quite articulate.

Since then, the two have been spotted together by their San Diego home, but based on a recent article in Cosmopolitan, it appears that there’s no hope of reconciliation right now.

“We’re both are at the point that we just don’t want to be talked about at all together anymore,” she said. “We don’t want our breakup to define us or interfere with our work. And that was happening for a while.”

Total Divas airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on E!

Photo credit: Getty/WireImage