The language of love. Nikki Bella received a Russian lesson from her boyfriend, Artem Chigvintsev, before she took the next step in their relationship — meeting the Dancing With the Stars pro’s parents.
“I was very nervous to meet Artem’s parents,” the Total Bellas star, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly recently at the #Fight4TheAmazon benefit at the Avalon Theatre. “One thing that was very difficult is the language barrier. His parents only speak Russian; I don’t know Russian. But, you always hear about Russian parents, especially the moms. They’re very protective of their boys, so I was very nervous.”
Bella recalled that Chigvintsev, 37, taught her a few words in Russian that she wasn’t able to remember when it was time meet his parents face-to-face.
“I froze up and I was staring at him,” the Nicole + Brizee cofounder said. “I was like, ‘So how do I say hi? What do I say?‘”
Chigvintsev told Us that, despite the language barrier, he thought the meeting “went really well” and Bella was parent-approved.
“The things you should know, I’ve been translating back-and-forth, so it’s like part of the filtration comes through me,” the Burn the Floor star said of his language skills.
He added, “My parents love Nicole. It’s been a great reunion. I haven’t seen them for over 5 years. They’ve been able to finally meet her in person, her to be able to see them, it was kind of a dream come true.”
There was one message that Bella received loud and clear from Chigvintsev’s father. “He did not translate that to me, but I know his dad’s already asking about babies over marriage,” Bella told Us. “All I told Artem, I was like, ‘Did he Google my age?’ ‘Does he think I’m old?’ ‘Your dad must think I’m old.’ Because I was like,’he’s asking about babies and not marriage,’ but yeah, it’s weird. I think it is going fast, but I think in that department, we kind of slow it down.”
Chigvintsev agreed that they plan to “just let things be natural and go where they go” in their relationship.
Bella detailed the Chigvintsevs’ emotional family reunion on the December 4 episode of “The Bellas” podcast and admitted she was anxious to get acquainted with her boyfriend’s family.
“It was the first time Artem saw his parents in five years and his brother,” she said. “He was so nervous and excited and emotional. They all got really emotional when they saw each other. They cried. I’m not gonna lie — I was really nervous.”
Bella and Chigvintsev met when they were paired as partners on season 25 of Dancing with the Stars in 2017. They went Instagram official with their romance in March when Bella posted a picture of herself kissing her boyfriend.
The retired professional wrestler called it quits with her former fiancé, John Cena, in April 2018. Cena, 42, is currently in a relationship with Canadian engineer Shay Shariatzadeh.
With reporting by Nicole Pajer
