Nikki Garcia Breaks Silence on Artem Chigvintsev Divorce for the First Time

Nikki Garcia is breaking her silence on her split from Artem Chigvintsev.

The 41-year-old former WWE star returned to her podcast, The Nikki & Brie Show, on Monday (December 2) after more than three months away following her ex-husband’s arrest on suspicion of corporal injury to spouse, and days after the ex-couple settled their divorce in private mediation.

Nikki began by saying she would “try my best not to get too emotional.”

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“I disconnected from social media, from the world, and I just knew that I needed to disconnect because first things first, I’m a mom and my son’s protection and privacy is the most important. So I was gonna do whatever it took for that most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head on, all of that,” she said, referring to her 4-year-old son Matteo, whom she shares with her ex.

“It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken. Sad. You know, you dream of having this family and you have this incredible love and it just goes the other way. And you go from having a great love story to having a terrible one. And I never saw any of it coming, you know, as far as, like, what the ending would be.”

She said that her son has remained her priority: “I tried to handle this whole situation even though I was in so much pain. I was just trying to do what was best for everyone.”

“I do want to continue to protect Mateo in those ways because that’s what’s been the hardest part about all this, and that’s been so heartbreaking. I didn’t know that your heart can break that many times in such a short period of time,” she went on.

“When it came to our relationship, it’s sad. Like, it just hasn’t been great for a long time. And I really played it up [that] things were a lot better than what they were in the public eye, which I have regrets in that because what I felt was, like, if I can just put this person on a pedestal and maybe if this person hears it enough, what I believe in them, they can believe that in themselves,” Nikki revealed.

“I didn’t wanna have another failed public relationship,” she continued. “And more than any of that, take it away, like, I wanted it for Matteo. You know, it’s it always comes back to him. You fight for your kids. We should have probably walked away a long time ago. So in the end, what happened wouldn’t have happened.”

She also admitted it’s been a “struggle” dealing with the split publicly because people are being “fed lies” about her.

“But because I know the truth and I actually lived it, it had it didn’t have a big effect on me because people weren’t there that day. People don’t know what I’ve gone through to what I am going through, and you’re always going to have people just assume things and say things, and then, you know, when they get fed lies, you’re gonna have people also believe things. All I need to do is focus on my healing. I need to focus on Matteo‘s healing.”

Artem did not face criminal charges, and both he and Nikki have alleged that the other person was the aggressor in the incident that led to the arrest. They were both granted protective orders against each other, both of which were dropped when they settled their divorce in November.