Just because Nikki Bella and Artem Chigvintsev aren’t putting a label on their relationship just yet, doesn’t mean they’re seeking sexual freedom.
The Dancing With the Stars professional joined his leading lady and her twin sister, Brie Bella, for a candid interview on their “The Bellas” podcast on Wednesday, May 15, where they got down to the nitty gritty of where the two stand romantically.
“I would say we’re having a great time spending together, we’re figuring [it] out and we’re just trying to take [things] step by step to see where it goes,” Chigvintsev, 36, said when Brie, 35, grilled him and Nikki, also 35, about not putting the a title on their relationship.
As for if the athlete would be mad if Nikki slept with someone else? “Yeah of course it would bother me,” he quickly responded when asked. “The fact is, we’re not saying we’re not titling ourselves with something, that doesn’t change the way I’d feel about it.”
Chigvintsev added of whether Nikki is allowed to seek sex elsewhere at this point in their romantic friendship: “No absolutely not … that would, like, hurt me very much.”
To which Nikki chimed in, “It would hurt him, and I respect his feelings so I wouldn’t do it. I really enjoy my intimate time with Artem, so I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
And it’s not just their intimacy that the pair — who met in 2017 when they were partnered together on season 25 of Dancing With the Stars — are enjoying together. Nikki and Chigvintsev also revealed that the former WWE pro has even spoken to the Russian native’s mother via Skype … and he’s even put a crib in his house so that Brie and her 2-year-old daughter, Birdie, can have someplace to sleep when the families get together!
Us Weekly confirmed in January that Nikki had moved on from ex-fiancé, John Cena, with Chigvintsev months after the former couple called off their engagement, though she’s been vocal about not labeling each other as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Earlier this month, Nikki chatted with Us Weekly and revealed that things with Chigvintsev are progressing.
“I’m trying to slow it down, but sometimes you can’t fight the way you feel about someone, right? And when there’s sparks. But I think I learned so much this past year,” she explained to Us. “I’ve learned how to cope with pain, but everything that I’ve been through, it’s been really like I’ve grown so much and I’ve really tried to, like, dig deep into that growth and like really taken what I’ve learned.”
Nikki added: “With Artem, it’s like I still am trying so hard just take it day by day because I’m so happy right now and he brings so much happiness into my life that I just don’t want to ruin it or make it something too serious, too fast. I’m enjoying the dating stage of, like, going out on dates and we don’t share the same house, you know?”
