“The Woman Gets Blamed”: Nikki Bella Once Exposed How Public Split With John Cena Stripped Her Off Her Many Wins

WWE’s resident power couple John Cena and Nikki Bella split up in 2018 after nearly six years together. The couple had been engaged for a year but called off their marriage after a dispute over starting a family.

Since the duo was among the most popular and famous WWE stars, their breakup attracted a lot of attention from fans and the media. Following this, both the wrestlers wanted to move on with their lives without the shadow of this separation hanging over them.

Nikki Bella in particular wasn’t happy about the constant media chatter. She thought it took away from their professional exploits and focused on their personal matters.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan, the former Divas Champion said she wanted to be recognized for her achievements and not as the ex-fiancee of John Cena.

Nikki Bella didn’t want her relationship with John Cena to define her

A good part of the John Cena-Nikki Bella relationship played out on reality TV. The couple joined the cast of Total Divas in 2013.

They then moved to another show centered around the Bella Twins, called the Total Bellas in 2016. This meant that the duo was always in the public eye and that can be hard to get away from.

Both were megastars in WWE and had constant media attention during their much-publicized relationship. However, after their split, which was even broadcast on Total Bellas show, Nikki just wanted to move away from the public scrutiny.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan in 2018, she said she feared that her breakup with Cena would overshadow her achievements and success as a performer in WWE because people may only talk about her as John Cena’s ex-fiancee.

READ MORE: “It Scared Me a Lot”: Nikki Bella Once Disclosed a Permanent Scar Left by John Cena on Her Current Marriage

She said, “I don’t want my relationship to define who I am, as a woman,” she explains. “And to take away all the hard work that I’ve ever done in my career. I think for a man, it’s different. I feel like, if anything, the woman gets blamed for what happens, for taking away from what they do.”

Nikki further elaborated her point on the “double standard”. She continued, “But I get all my work taken away because of that. I don’t know, I feel like sometimes there’s a double standard and I really have felt that. And it’s been really, really hard.”

Obviously a successful wrestler, TV star and a businesswoman like Nikki Bella won’t be pleased to have her life be all about a particular relationship. She has achieved a lot in her professional career that deserves to be talked about and given a mention.

The pair split up weeks before their marriage in 2018 and embarked on new personal journeys since. Nikki Bella, reality TV star and dancer Artem Chigvintsev in August this year. As for Cena, he got married to engineer Shay Shariatzadeh in 2020 and the couple has been together since.

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