Nikki Bella was 'nervous' about Artem Chigvintsev romance

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Nikki Bella was "nervous" to commit to Artem Chigvintsev following her split from John Cena.

The 36-year-old retired professional wrestler - who, alongside her twin sister Brie Bella, announced on Wednesday (29.01.20) she is expecting her first child - split from John just weeks before they were due to get married in 2018, and has said she found it tough to move on from that and let her fiancé Artem in when they began dating.

She explained: "It definitely took time working past the nerves. I feel like when you have a love like that, you never fully move on because that person touches your life so much. My life coach said it so perfectly. Sometimes these people that are in your life, they're almost like mothers and you have that attachment because they care for you or they take care of you so much. So when that's gone, you romanticise and you get these feelings that come up."

Nikki also had concerns that going public with Artem would "hurt" John.

She added: "I never wanted John to also think photos of Artem and I was me intentionally trying to hurt him. I just wish I could have lived that privately so no one would get hurt. Everyone starts to make something of something. And I just didn't want anyone to get hurt. I also wanted time to feel okay. I didn't want to hurt Artem. I didn't want to hurt John. It took me a while."

But when the 'Total Bellas' star eventually committed to Artem, she fell "in love with him so fast".

She said: "Like, how am I falling for this guy? We're so opposite. I never would have thought I would have been with a Russian ballroom dancer. It's crazy, like I slammed people for a living, but we have so much in common. But it took me a long time. Honestly, a lot of therapy, a lot of meditation, a lot of journaling, and you still have to go through it. I was about to marry the man. It's never easy,."

Nikki got engaged to Artem in November last year and announced the news earlier this month, and has said she was worried people would take the news badly.

Speaking to People magazine, she said: "And the engagement made me - I didn't announce it right away because I just didn't know. I wasn't ready for the backlash. I knew there'd be a lot of positivity, but I wasn't ready for even that small amount of backlash. It really just made me nervous about our relationship, about myself, about Artem, my family. Was it too soon? Is it not? I'm in love. But why am I double thinking it? I'm so in love. It's just ... it's scary."