Nikki Garcia had been hoping for “a chance to communicate” with Artem Chigvintsev prior to his shocking domestic violence arrest last Thursday.
The former professional wrestler, who was known on the WWE circuit as Nikki Bella, made some comments on last week’s episode of her Nikki & Brie Show podcast that are now quite chilling in the aftermath of Artem’s arrest. During the podcast, which Nikki hosted with her twin sister Brie Garcia, the mom to 4-year-old Matteo admitted that the plan for earlier that week was to spend some quality phone-free time with her hubby in celebration of the fact that they’d successfully navigated two years of marriage.
Related: Nikki Hosts Netflix Special In First Appearance After Artem’s Domestic Violence Arrest
For their wedding anniversary — you know, the one that went down just DAYS before Artem’s DV arrest — Nikki told her podcast listeners that she was originally planning on some phone-free spa time with the dance pro. Calling those times when they are disconnected from technology “the best moments,” she explained:
“When you’re in the steam room together or the sauna or the pool or the waiting area before your massage or after … you just get to sit and chat. Artem and I talked about doing that.”
Reflecting on how they “did something similar last year” for their first anniversary, too, Nikki added:
“It gave us a chance to communicate about our marriage. Where are we at, what are you loving, what are you not loving? We had such a great conversation and made — not goals for the next years of marriage, but [figuring out] what are some things we can add into our marriage or are looking forward to in our marriage?”
Wow. So, they had such a worthwhile conversation in that realm during their prior anniversary, and they were going to try to do the same thing again with this one, and then the next thing we know… poof. Artem gets arrested on charges of felony corporal injury to a spouse, and Nikki has now begun to shop for divorce lawyers. Life comes at you fast…
As for specifics with those marriage convos, Nikki said during the podcast that she didn’t want to get into it because her 42-year-old husband considered those public reveals to be “TMI.” She added that Artem apparently often calls her out on her bluntness, asking:
“Did you really have to talk like that?”
Oof…
We’ve definitely heard other reports about that tone popping up in recent days.
But the phone-free communication plan was scrapped, anyways! Life got in the way of this most recent ill-fated marriage celebration. Notably, on the date of their two-year anniversary, Artem “had to go do some work” that forced a slight delay of their big day. Still, during this now-week-old podcast, Nikki was adamant that although the celebration may have been delayed, it wouldn’t be denied:
“We originally had this amazing lunch planned. Artem and I were gonna do all these things while Matteo was in school. … We’re gonna try do so something tonight. What’s nice about anniversaries and birthdays is you don’t always have to celebrate that day if it doesn’t work out as long as you figure it out and plan something.”
Honestly, it’s so f**king chilling to think about Nikki going from that mindset a week ago to, just a few days later, dealing with the aftermath of an alleged domestic violence incident and the fallout from all that. So unsettling to think of her falling from such a happy high of celebrating their marriage to the terrifying lows of DV. Ugh.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via FayesVision/Brian To/WENN]
