In it together. Artem Chigvintsev opened up about wanting his fiancée, Nikki Bella, to “feel happy” amid her postpartum depression battle.
“It’s a very sad, sad feeling,” the Dancing With the Stars pro, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly on Monday, October 5. “That’s going to be an absolute nightmare for me if I feel that she’s depressed.”
The Russian dancer went on to say that “communication is key” to supporting the former professional wrestler, 36, after their son Matteo’s July birth.
“Obviously, I don’t know what she’s going through,” the Strictly Come Dancing alum explained. “None of the guys are really aware. It does exist. You definitely have to take a look at it. I have a whole different appreciation for women to not just carry a baby, not just give birth, [but to] recover from that to make you back to yourself, feeling normal.”
The Total Bellas star first opened up about her mental health battle last month, saying on a September episode of the “Total Bellas Podcast” that it knocked her “on [her] ass.”
The California native went on tell her sister, Brie Bella, at the time: “I didn’t realize at week seven, you kind of come out of your baby blues and … go two different paths. You go the path of being healthy or you go down the path of being depressed, and that depression path can be a really dark, deep hole. I was starting to feel invisible. … It just started to build up. Being alone with Matteo and just feeling lonely and not loved and invisible.”
At times, the athlete “hated” her fiancé, she revealed. “He’s like, ‘You could be mean.’ And I’m not gonna lie, I did have moments of being mean. It’s true. … There were times I’d look at him and I’m like, ‘I think I hate you.’”
The couple announced in January that they had a baby on the way, weeks after sharing their engagement news.
With reporting by Kayley Stumpe
