Sharing his pain. John Cena opened up about his high-profile split from ex-fiance Nikki Bella during a Monday, May 14, Today show interview with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.
When Gifford, 64, asked the 40-year-old Blockers star how he was doing following his broken engagement to Bella, he responded, “It’s up and it’s down.”
He continued: “I’ve always been honest with you guys, I also don’t want to ruin viewers’ mornings by giving them a bowl of sadness soup … It’s been incredibly reflective, which is amazing, but it is very difficult. I had my heart broken out of nowhere, or for me it was out of nowhere. And anyone who has experienced that knows that it comes with a series of bad feelings.”
Cena — who proposed to Bella, 34, at Wrestlemania 33 in April 2017 — added that “for anyone out there speculating on what I am doing with my life now, I still love Nicole. I still would love to marry Nicole. I still would love to have a family with Nicole.”
A source close to the couple told Us Weekly that it was Bella who called off their engagement in April less than one month before the reality TV couple were set to tie the knot, to which Cena noted, “There was an unfortunate set of circumstances where our relationship ended.”
He continued: “There has been a lot of speculation recently about me being seen in public and everybody is thinking like, ‘Oh, John Cena is enjoying the single life.’ No, I was supposed to be married and having honeymoon over these two weeks. It is the first time in 15 years that I have taken a vacation. I’m in my house alone surrounded by these emotionally strong memories and every day from 6 to 9 I get out of the house and talk to strangers as social interaction.”
As for a relationship on the mend, Cena said that the two — who had been together for more than six years — still talk but that “it is just difficult because I want her to be able to chase what she is looking for and I feel as if I am there, I may be enabling the situation. But those are like weird assumptions. It’s all messed up, guy. It’s a relationship.”
Us Weekly exclusively revealed on May 8 that the Total Divas star is still “spending nights” with Cena at his apartment following their breakup.
“Nikki hasn’t moved out of John’s apartment, even though she very much wanted to after the wedding was called off,” the source told Us, noting that Cena “doesn’t want her to have to deal with moving after everything they have been through as a couple.”
