Nikki Bella is pushing back against mommy shamers. The professional wrestler and mother of one recently decided to defend herself after taking a solo business trip.
Nikki opened up about having to travel alone — without fiance Artem Chigvintsev or their 8-month-old son, Mateo — during a recent episode of her Total Bellas Podcast, with her sister, Brie Bella.
“No, I don’t do vacations without my fiancé and baby,” Nikki explained, after taking heat for simply going on a trip by herself. “It’s not like, ‘I hate you, I’m leaving,’ or anything like that.”
“So for the haters and the people who don’t understand: Artem and I have an incredible relationship and understanding of, like, ‘Hey, if we can do these things and someone can stay home, let’s do that because it’s better for our baby,'” she explained.
One of the trips that Nikki got criticized for was when she traveled for her appearance on WrestleMania, which was specifically a work trip.
“I go there and back,” Bella said of the travel. “I’m not going to bring my family across the country for a few days and get my baby on Eastern Standard Time when he’s Pacific Standard Time.”
Nikki also got slammed for traveling with Brie to San Diego earlier this month to visit some friends from her old job, and she explained that the outing was a single day, and it didn’t make sense to bring her entire family along.
Addressing the critics who frequently post negative comments on her social media posts, Nikki asked, “If you don’t like what someone’s doing in their life, why do you follow them?… You just wasted your own energy.”
Brie had a message for her sister’s mommy shamers as well: “It’s none of your business!”
Nikki also explained that a big reason her infant son doesn’t travel with her, especially on work trips, is she isn’t ready to leave him in the care of anyone other than his dad.
“I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving Matteo in a hotel room with a babysitter. I’m not there mentally,” Nikki shared. “I’d rather him be at home with his dad in his crib.”
