Nikki Bella announced on Sunday that she and John Cena had split after six years together, with the couple reportedly just weeks from their planned nuptials in Mexico.
While the relationship between two people should stay just that — between two people — there are a few theories as to what might have gone wrong between one of the WWE‘s most well-known couples.
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It was well documented on the couple’s reality shows, Total Divas and Total Bellas, that Cena did not want children, something that Bella initially struggled with. While the wrestler seemed to eventually accept that she would never be a mom should she stay with Cena, it’s possible that issue was a factor that led to the pair’s split.
“Would I hope John would one day want kids? One hundred percent,” Bella told PEOPLE shortly after her April 2017 engagement. “But I have come to that decision to being okay with it, that I won’t be a mom. I will be the greatest aunt ever.”
Bella had discussed Cena’s refusal to have children with her twin sister, Brie Bella, on their shows, and she had also grappled with the idea of potentially not having children as she had previously expressed her desire to become a mother.
“I do want to be a mom,” Bella told Cena in 2013 on Total Divas. “I feel like I’d be missing out.”
“I’m going to choose my words carefully,” Cena replied. “I can’t give you that.”
On a 2014 episode of Total Divas, Brie spoke to Cena about the issue, sharing that she was worried Bella was “lying to herself” when she said she no longer wanted children.
“Nicole and I were talking and she brought to my attention that she’s over marriage, she doesn’t want to have kids anymore,” Brie said. “It was a little alarming to me.”
Cena responded that he had been honest with Bella from day one and had always been upfront with her about what he wanted.
“I was abundantly clear about that from our very first date,” he said. “It wasn’t like I tried to manipulate your sister into thinking a certain thing was going to happen and then all the sudden say ‘Ha ha.’”
The wrestler added, “I love this girl, but I love my life.”
Initially, Cena, who has been married before, did not want to contemplate the ideas of marriage or children, though he seemed to bend on the former when he proposed to Bella at Wrestlemania.
“After much contemplation and 6 years of being together Nikki Bella and John Cena announced today their decision to separate as a couple,” the statement on Nikki’s account read. “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.”
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