Nikki Bella and John Cena split earlier this year after getting engaged at WrestleMania in April 2017, and it’s now become clear that the two don’t have plans to get back together. Despite her single status, however, Bella isn’t yet ready to start dating someone new.
“It feels like, you know, when you get married and the next day people are like, ‘When are you having kids?’ and it’s like, ‘I just got married.’ I feel like it’s the same thing. When you become single, it’s like, ‘Oh, are you dating?!’” she told PEOPLE at WWE Evolution on Sunday. “Honestly, I’m so not interested. I’m just not ready yet.”
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“I’m trying to heal, and I’m not healed yet,” she added.
While Bella is currently focusing on herself, her twin sister Brie Bella has other ideas.
“I did set her up on a blind date,” Brie admitted. “You’ll see it on Total Bellas, but I got in a lot of trouble.”
Bella recently opened up to Cosmopolitan about her relationship, explaining that she called off her wedding because she realized she had lost herself throughout her five-year relationship with Cena.
“I lost for so many years,” she said. “That was all my fault. I’m the one who forgot about me. I have realized now to truly have a happy life, you have to give yourself so much love first and work on you in any way you can.”
The 34-year-old didn’t mention her ex by name, but did mention that the two hope to no longer be spoken about together in the media.
“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.”
Bella added that she never wants her relationship to become such a big part of her identity that it overshadows her own achievements.
“I don’t want my relationship to define who I am, as a woman,” she explained. “And to take away all the hard work that I’ve ever done in my career.”
The athlete continued, “I think for a man, it’s different. I feel like, if anything, the woman gets blamed for what happens, for taking away from what they do. But I get all my work taken away because of that. I don’t know, I feel like sometimes there’s a double standard and I really have felt that. And it’s been really, really hard.”
Photo Credit: Getty / Michael Stewart
