A "heartbroken" Nikki Garcia opens up about her divorce with DWTS star Artem Chigvintsev

Nikki Garcia has opened up about her split from her husband, Artem Chigvintsev, following abuse allegations and her subsequent divorce filing. The WWE star returned to her The Nikki & Brie Show podcast on Monday, December 2, 2024, after several months of hiatus following her divorce from Chigvintsev. During the latest episode of the podcast, Garcia addressed the end of her marriage, telling the listeners:

"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."

Nikki Garcia officially filed to divorce Artem Chigvintsev on September 11, about two weeks after he was arrested for domestic violence. Although the case has since been dropped due to lack of evidence, Garcia has mourned her marriage. Without getting into too much detail about the cause of the divorce, she said she was blindsided by what happened to her marriage with the Dancing With The Stars dancer. She said:

"You go from having a great love story to a terrible one. And I never saw any of it coming, you know, as far as, what the ending would be."

The exes have agreed to a settlement earlier this month during mediation, around two weeks before their divorce trial is scheduled to start.

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Nikki Garcia opens up about "very emotional" moments with her son after her divorce from Artem Chigvintsev

In the podcast, Nikki Garcia shared a glimpse of what life has been like after her split from Artem Chigvintsev. Page Six reported on September 3, 2024, that Chigvintsev was no longer living in their home in Napa Valley, California, and Garcia remains there with their four-year-old son, Matteo.

On Monday, the Total Bellas star shared that she has emotional moments whenever she finds herself alone at home, saying:

"I miss Mateo, oh my goodness. Those first few times in my house [alone]... I've never been in the home without him. It's really really hard and very emotional."

While Garcia hasn't given context as to where her son was in those moments, she and Chigvintsev reportedly have joint custody of their son. She further said in the podcast:

"I cry every time he leaves. I just cry so hard as I'm picking up his trains and cleaning his plates... whatever it may be... doing his laundry. I just cry so hard."

While marriage has ended for Nikki Garcia and Artem Chigvintsev, the former WWE star said they are focused on co-parenting Matteo. She also has some good words to share about their current dynamic, saying that her ex has been "doing a great job" when it comes to co-parenting. She said:

"We both are very focused on Matteo and that's the great thing."

As for her hopes for the future, Nikki Garcia said that she prays every day that she and her ex can be "great friends" in the future and that they get to share the holidays together. While she admitted that it won't likely happen anytime soon, she thinks it is what their son "deserves."

She also complained about co-parenting, in general, saying that "it sucks" because she never imagined that she would only be seeing her son half of the time. That said, Nikki Garcia has not disclosed the specifics of her co-parenting agreement.