The 'Total Bellas' star and her fellow wrestler, who has now married Shay Shariatzadeh, broke up in 2018 after six years together, just weeks before they were due to get married.

• Jul 22, 2022

AceShowbiz - Nikki Bella thinks her "traumatizing" break-up with John Cena would have been easier if things had been "bad" between them. The "Total Bellas" star, who split from her fellow wrestler in 2018 just weeks before they were due to get married, admitted it was a "hard thing" to walk away from their relationship because there were no major issues between them.

She said, "You almost wish it was bad, because it's so much easier to walk away. It's so much harder to walk away when it's loving. I think a lot of women get into this situation when it's like, 'I love this person, but I don't know if it's right for my life,' and that's a hard thing."

"Sometimes we meet amazing people, but we're just meant to live a different life," she added, "I just got this feeling so deep in my gut of, like, 'I need to walk away.' And no one thought I would, but it was hitting me so hard. Even though it's painful and even traumatising, I just knew it was right."

Nikki is thankful she did split from the "Blockers" actor, who she dated for 6 six years, because she has now found happiness with her fiance, Artem Chigvintsev, and they are proud parents to 23-month-old son Matteo. She added in an episode of documentary series "Biography: WWE Legends", "This is when I know how God is good -- and believing your gut and intuition and following through, good things happen. It's hard to see it in the moment."

The 38-year-old star confirmed she and the Russian-American dancer are "still planning" their wedding. She said: "We are just trying to figure out this whole family thing with Artem. Praying that we can get Artem's family, hopefully, to America soon. That is our goal."

Elsewhere on the show, which focuses on Nikki and her twin sister Brie Bella, the wrestler recalled how she asked her mother to leave her father when she was 15 years old or else she'd not come home. "I felt like as a young girl, I was already a woman and I knew what my mom deserved and it wasn't the marriage she was in," she shared.

Acknowledging the aftermath of her ultimatum brought her dad to a "deeper, darker place" but ultimately led to his "rebirth," she said, "I always want to teach people that even though we can have these upbringings where our parents do drugs or something they shouldn't do. It can always come around in our hearts. We can all become one and become a family, and my dad has learned so much. It's so beautiful to see his journey in life and the man he's become. It's been so amazing."