Nikki Garcia sheds light on raising son Matteo with ex Artem Chigvintsev in first interview since explosive split

Nikki Garcia has shed light on co-parenting with her ex Artem Chigvintsev and her life post-split in her first interview since ending their marriage. 

The WWE alum, 41, filed for divorce from Artem, 42, in September 2024, shortly after an alleged altercation between them led to his arrest for domestic violence. They share four-year-old son Matteo together. 

Now, in her first interview since the divorce, Garcia opened up to Us Weekly about how she’s been faring since the ordeal made headlines. 

She revealed how she and Chigvintsev have been raising their child together, and how she’s been explaining the situation to their son. 

‘I’ve used words like divorce, [but] it’s only been when he’s asked. Everything’s kind of been about us just having our own homes,’ she said. ‘You get to go see Mommy and you get to go see Daddy. On Christmas, we made sure we were both there when we baked Santa’s cookies. Matteo went to bed and we both were there when he woke up. Because he’s our focus, we want to keep those moments.’

The former couple now share custody of their son, and Garcia admitted she finds time away from Matteo challenging.

‘What’s crazy about coparenting is you get a schedule. It’s wild that one day it’s like, “OK, here are the days you get your son,” and that’s just what you do.

‘For me, that part is incredibly tough. I had never been in our home without him. So getting through those days is extremely difficult because I just love being around my son so much.’

Fortunately, Matteo has been handling the changes well. ‘Matteo’s OK and not affected. So that makes it easy. He’s happy to go to both homes,’ she said.

After two years of marriage, Garcia and Chigvintsev’s divorce was finalized last year.

Now officially single, Garcia says she can see herself ‘falling in love again’ – but she doesn’t imagine it happening ‘anytime soon.’  

And while she’s open to love, she doesn’t see herself legally wedding a future partner. 

‘I don’t ever want to sign paperwork again. If I find the right person, I don’t mind [a commitment ceremony], but I don’t want to be legally [bound],’ she said.

Garcia also does not want anymore children: ‘I definitely do not want more kids. I am fine.’

For several months after arrest, Garcia waited several months before returning to the podcast she co-hosts with sister Brie Garcia. 

The decision to ‘disconnect’ from the public eye was a necessary one for Nikki as she coped with the immediate aftermath of the dispute.  

‘Everything was very shocking, all of it. And I think that was a main reason why I knew I had to disconnect. I was in shock. You couldn’t have ever told me that this would’ve been the ending of my 2024 or my marriage — [I] wouldn’t have believed you. It takes a long time to process something. I needed that disconnection to process everything that happened,’ she said.

Her family also had differing views on the relationship. 

When asked if the split surprised her friends or family, she said: ‘Brie’s been very vocal. She said that she felt like this relationship should end long before it did. She always felt we were just two different people trying to make it work. But my mom was a huge supporter of [me and Artem]. She was actually flying in [the] day [of the incident] to spend the whole weekend with us,’ she said.

Fortunately, 2025 has been ‘amazing’ for Garcia, who said she’s been getting to know herself as a woman in her 40s.

‘I feel like I have this whole new era to look at, and I get to choose how I want to be and [where to] take it,’ she admitted. 

While Garcia still has moments of heartache, she is overall optimistic about the future.

‘I still get moments of heartache for sure, when an event comes up, or you drive by something or a song comes on. I know in time that will get better. But overall, I feel a lot of joy in my heart and feel so grateful. I have so much gratitude [for] my family, my health,’ she said.  

Chigvintsev was arrested and booked on a felony domestic violence on August 29 in Yountville, California following an alleged incident with Garcia, but prosecutors in Napa County ultimately decided against filing criminal charges in the case.

Chigvintsev’s lawyer has since claimed the DWTS alum was not the ‘primary aggressor’ in the dispute with Garcia and released photos of the injuries the dancer’s then-spouse allegedly inflicted on him.

The altercation occurred just three days after the former couple celebrated their two year wedding anniversary.

Garcia later filed for divorce and unsuccessfully requested sole custody of their son Matteo, with the pair granted temporary restraining orders against each other. The restraining orders were ultimately dismissed and their divorce has since been finalized.

In a statement, Garcia’s rep told E! the duo had ‘decided to drop the domestic violence restraining orders against each other in an effort to move on with their lives and effectively co-parent their son.’

Previously, Garcia admitted she had been depicting their relationship to be the perfect marriage on social media despite that not being so, and that they had been plagued with issues ‘for a long time’ prior to the dispute that sparked their split.

‘The past few months, I disconnected from social media, from the world, and I just knew that I needed to disconnect because first things first, I’m a mom and my son’s protection and privacy is the most important,’ she said on the podcast she hosts with twin sister, The Nikki & Brie Show, back in December.

‘I was going to do whatever it took for that most importantly, and then just needing space for healing, for facing trauma head-on.’

‘It’s been tough. It’s been really tough. I’ve been heartbroken. Sad,’ she said.