Nikki Garcia has broken her silence.
opening up for the first time about her split from Artem Chigvintsev.
Nearly two weeks after Garcia and Chigvintsev finalized their divorce — and also agreed to move past their dual restraining orders in order to sign these papers — the Total Bellas star hosted a new edition of her podcast.
“I’ve been heartbroken,” the 41-year old said during the December 2 episode of The Nikki & Brie Show.
“You dream of having this family and you have this incredible love, and it just goes the other way. You go from having a great love story to having a terrible one.”
Garcia’s candid revelations came three months after the Dancing With the Stars professional — who shares 4-year-old son Matteo with the WWE wrestler — was arrested on a suspicion of felony domestic violence charge, although he was never formally charged.
“I’m going to try my best not to get too emotional in this episode,” Nikki told her sister on air.
“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.”
Nikki told listeners that the past few months have “been really tough” … and explained her absence from the spotlight as a result.
“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 said.
“I was going to do whatever it took for that most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head-on.”
Back in August, Chigvintsev was arrested for domestic battery and booked on a felony domestic violence charge following an apparent altercation with his wife in Napa.
One week later, they both filed for divorce, with Garcia seeking full custody of their son.
Nikki knows she owes her fans her side of the story, but also wants to be sure she’s putting her child above everything else.
“I’ve been so shocked, like beyond words, and it’s been heartbreaking,” she said on this podcast. “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.”
In conclusion?
“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.
“All I need to do is focus on my healing. I need to focus on Matteo’s healing.”
Nikki Garcia Finally Speaks on “Really Tough” Divorce From Artem Chigvintsev was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.