Nikki Bella on the death of Brie's high school boyfriend and their parents' "bad" divorce

Nikki Bella was the latest guest on Stephanie McMahon's WWE podcast series. During the episode, the Hall of Famer opened up about her and Brie Bella's difficult few years in the early 2000s.

Brie's high school boyfriend Edward, aka Bear, died in a car crash after being hit by a drunk driver. Around the same time, Nikki's dreams of playing soccer professionally ended after she broke her leg. The Bella Twins also had to deal with their parents' divorce, which led to their father almost passing away.

Nikki addressed her tough teenage years while discussing her upbringing on What's Your Story? With Steph McMahon:

"It was like parents had a bad divorce, didn't talk to dad, then dad almost OD'd of drugs. Then Brie's boyfriend died, was killed by a drunk driver, and then I broke my leg, and at the funeral I was still in my long soft cast. It was like boom, boom, boom."

Nikki Bella also revealed she is ready to date again after finalizing her divorce from Artem Chigvintsev in 2024.

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Nikki Bella thinks she and Brie needed more help

In 2007, Brie and Nikki Bella signed with WWE after participating in the previous year's Diva Search competition.

Nikki believes she and her sister would have coped better with the trauma from their teenage years if they had received more help. She also sympathized with her mother's situation during that time.

"It was a period of time where there was so much happening in our lives," Nikki said. "It was almost kinda too many big emotions for our age, and not really help, and my mom was in her own space trying to deal with her [problems]."

In the same interview, Nikki explained her main motivation behind returning to WWE in-ring competition earlier in 2025.

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Please credit What's Your Story? With Steph McMahon and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.