Nikki Bella Says She Didn't Have 'Feelings' for Artem Chigvintsev While Engaged to John Cena
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Nikki Bella may have met her now-fiancé Artem Chigvintsev on Dancing with the Stars, but that's not quite where their love story started.
Bella, 36, opened up about dancing with Chigvintsev during season 25 of DWTS while she was still engaged to her ex John Cena. The reality star admitted she was "uncomfortable" performing such intimate movements with another man.
Video: Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev make red carpet debut as couple
"I remember the one thing that was awkward for me — I don’t know if you remember in some of [the] dance moves — when their leg had to be in between your leg," she said while chatting with Lisa Vanderpump the latest episode of The Bellas Podcast. "I remember … it was the first time a man’s leg, other than my fiancé’s was in between mine and I was like, ‘Whoa!’ It was weird."
But despite getting so close to Chigvintsev, Bella said she was not physically attracted to him during their time as ballroom partners.
"You definitely get an emotional bond with them because it is so scary … I’ve never been that nervous before," she said. "That’s the crazy thing being with [Artem] now is there were none of those feelings at all."
Bella and Cena ended their engagement just weeks before their wedding date in 2018 and said in a statement at the time that it was a "difficult" decision and that they would "continue to have a great deal of love and respect for one another."
RELATED: John Cena Marries Girlfriend Shay Shariatzadeh in Florida
A year later, the former pro-wrestler started officially dating Chigvintsev. The couple, who are now engaged, welcomed their first child together, a son Matteo, earlier this year.
Cena has also moved on. The actor and pro wrestler wed girlfriend Shay Shariatzadeh at an attorney's office on Monday in Tampa, Florida, according to a marriage certificate obtained by PEOPLE. The couple, who have been linked since March 2019, obtained a marriage license on Friday, according to the document.
