Nikki Bella Gets Blunt With Fiance Artem Chigvintsev Over ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Drama With Carrie Ann Inaba

Nikki Bella had to give a little tough love to fiancé Artem Chigvintsev when he and his Dancing With the Stars partner Kaitlyn Bristowe were complaining about low scores from judge Carrie Ann Inaba. The former WWE Superstar admitted to Us Weekly that she told her future husband to “suck it up” during a brutally honest conversation.

“I think because [twin Brie Bella] and I have been athletes our whole life, I have been raised in such a way, like, don’t cry about injuries. Suck it up. So, Artem and I actually got in this discussion,” Nikki told the magazine. “I think he was so shocked because I was like, ‘Why are you taking it so personal?’”

While the pro dancer was shocked at first, Nikki pointed to the perfect score he and the former Bachelorette earned for their Argentine tango on Monday’s episode as proof she was right. “I go, ‘She pushes you! You guys did better and look at the outcome,’” Nikki continued. “I’m like, ‘Carrie Ann’s doing her job!’” Nikki also pressed her future husband, with whom she welcomed son Matteo in July, to make a video after Inaba shared on The Talk that she was being “bullied” about scoring their team, but ultimately they chose not to post it.

It was an issue they definitely “bumped heads” on, Nikki confessed. “We saw things differently, but that’s just the athlete in me. Imagine singing in front of Simon Cowell. Like, that’s kind of what you sign up for. … They would give me such a hard time every week. Like, ‘You need to be more graceful.’ And I just sucked it up. I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right, I do.’”

The Total Bellas star first met Chigvintsev on the DWTS dance floor, where they competed together in Season 25. Nikki was engaged at the time to fellow wrestler John Cena, but said on The Bellas Podcast she shares with sister Brie that she didn’t have any romantic feelings for her dance partner at the time. “You definitely get an emotional bond with them because it is so scary … I’ve never been that nervous before,” she said last month. “That’s the crazy thing, being with him now is there were none of those feelings at all.”

“It was the first time I was ever vulnerable, even with a man, because I was always such a strong, independent woman,” the new mom continued, wishing she could take the time they had on the dance floor and do it over again without the fear of missing her steps. “I wish I could’ve taken in those moments but then where I got the bond was just having to depend on him. And I had never had to depend on a man before.”