Artem Chigvintsev is on a roll. Less than a month after welcoming his first child with fiancee Nikki Bella, 36, on July 31, he’s returning to his position as a pro-partner on Dancing with the Stars. He was surprisingly not asked back for season 28 after eight seasons on the ABC show, but was revealed to be part of the revamped season 29 on Aug. 24, six days after the main list of pro’s had been released. That means 8-12 hour dance rehearsals with his celebrity partner, and a lot of time away from his infant son and future wife. But his former WWE star sweetheart is happy that her man’s going back to doing what he loves career-wise.
“Nikki couldn’t be more excited for Artem to return to Dancing With the Stars. She knows that’s his passion and she’ll be cheering him on from home the whole time,” a source close to the Bella twins tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “Nikki would never think about holding Artem back from doing what he loves and she knows he’s the same way about her passions.”
“They completely support each other’s dreams and she’s confident that his health and well-being will be well protected (against COVID-19). Nikki knows the show’s production will put every safety precaution into place and the biggest hurdle she’ll have to deal with is how much she’s going to miss him,” our insider continues. “But she has a huge support system around her and she’s just thrilled Artem is getting back into doing what he loves.” Nikki and Artem met when he was her pro-partner during DWTS season 25, when she was still with former fiance John Cena, 43. Nikki and Artem began dating after John and Nikki’s 2018 breakup.
Nikki has watched her twin sister Brie Bella embrace motherhood while her fellow wrestler husband Daniel Bryan has a busy WWE career. They have a three-year-old daughter Birdie and welcomed a son on Aug. 1, 2020, just one day after Nikki and Artem’s baby boy was born. “Nikki is 1000% cool with Artem returning to Dancing,” a second source tells us EXCLUSIVELY. “When Nikki was a wrestler, she would always be on the road. She would always be busy because she loved it. When she stepped away, she saw how her sister was as a mother. Brie has to occasionally go it alone, while her husband goes to work as a wrestler himself.”
“They are all OK with the separation that is going to take place and everyone is very confident that while Artem has to be quarantined and away while at Dancing, he won’t be gone for that long and it won’t be much of a big deal,” the insider continues. “This is Artem’s job. They are well aware that regular non celebs who are teachers and firefighters or in the military are away from their family on all different levels. This is the ‘normal’ that they live and they are going to make it work.”
“Nikki has a great support system and is completely is OK with Artem doing the show. They talked about it and all is good. He missed the show and is excited to be back and Nikki wants him to be happy. So they are going to make everything work out and it will be the best situation possible,” the source adds.
