Nikki Bella Says She “Fell to Her Knees” and Didn’t Recognize Herself Anymore During Her Divorce

Nikki Bella has given one of the most raw and candid interviews of her public life, opening up on The Flying Felon on April 3 about the full emotional weight of her marriage to Artem Chigvintsev and the divorce that followed. The WWE Hall of Famer held nothing back, describing a relationship that gradually stripped away her identity before she found the strength to reclaim it.

“I had a really hard marriage — and I think sometimes we are in relationships and we love really hard, and then they can turn into not a great relationship. I think we can lose ourselves in that — and I definitely lost myself in that relationship,” Nikki said.

The emotional toll she described went far deeper than circumstances. She reached a point where she no longer recognized the person looking back at her in the mirror. “There was so much of me that was missing where I would look in the mirror and I just didn’t really recognize myself anymore. I was like, where is she? Where’s the sparkle, the strength, the bravery, the fearlessness, the sexiness, the sassiness — where is she? Divorce is just hard, especially when you have children.”

Nikki Bella Describes Falling to Her Knees and Surrendering During Her Most Difficult Moments

Nikki described her lowest point with striking vulnerability — a night where she completely broke down and surrendered to something greater than herself. “I remember one night just falling to my knees — I just was so broken. I was like, ‘God, I feel so lost. I feel so weak. I feel so powerless. I’m just surrendering to you.’ I just felt like no one knew my truth — but I knew that silence was so powerful, and I had to do it to protect my son.” She also addressed frustrations with the public handling of her divorce, including a lawyer she felt spoke too freely about the proceedings online. Despite everything she described, Nikki’s WWE comeback has placed her back in the spotlight heading into WrestleMania 42 where the Bella Twins are scheduled to compete in the Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal Four-Way in Las Vegas.