Nikki Garcia Opens Up About ‘Heartbreak’ and Painful Divorce From DWTS’ Artem Chigvintsev, Plus She Reflects on Harmful Comments

There has been much talk about Nikki Garcia and Artem Chigvintsev in the last few months. As many know, the two have divorced and dropped their restraining orders against each other. Now, Nikki is opening up about the difficult decision to end her marriage for the first time on her podcast.

Nikki filed for divorce from the Dancing with the Stars pro on September 11 of this year. It has since been finalized. This comes after the police were called to their home following a suspected domestic violence incident. Following this situation, a string of stories came out about Artem and his allegedly abusive behavior, including toward people he previously worked with. Notably, no charges were filed after the incident at their home. 

Now, Nikki is finally discussing her divorce from Artem, with whom she shares one son. She did so on her podcast, Nikki & Brie. 

The professional wrestler began, via E! News, “I’m going to try my best not to get too emotional in this episode. But I first want to just thank everyone, the listeners, you, family, friends, coworkers, people I haven’t talked to in a long time, just for all the love and support, for the respect of privacy and space.”

She then discussed the last few months and her need to “disconnect” from social media. According to Nikki, “The past few months, 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.”

She added, “So I was going to do whatever it took for that, most importantly, and then just needing space, for healing, for facing trauma, head on, all of that. So it’s been tough. It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken, sad.”

Nikki also detailed how having this family was her dream and how hurt she is that it didn’t work out as she envisioned it would. 

She said, “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—never saw any of it coming. You know, as far as what the ending would be. So it’s just been a struggle.”

Nikki then explained, “I’ve been so shocked, like beyond words, and it’s been heartbreaking. You lose your appetite, you cry a lot. And then I also stepped up and made sure everything was okay for Matteo. And so it’s just been—I don’t even know what other words to use.”

She also admitted that some of the comments she heard during the ordeal impacted her a bit. However, she said she knows the truth. 

According to her, “The one thing that I have realized disconnecting from the world, it’s when you know the truth, nothing else matters. So when some of you would come to me and tell me what people were saying or what was out there, it would affect me in some way, but because I know the truth, and I actually lived it, it didn’t have a big effect on me.”

She then added, “All I need to do is focus on my healing. I need to focus on Matteo’s healing.”

Fans can hear Nikki’s podcast on all platforms.