Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Garcia.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty ImagesArtem Chigvintsev He smiles with his 4-year-old son Matteo in his first Instagram post since Nikki Garcia Divides.
Chigvintsev, 42, shared four black-and-white photos with his son on Sunday, December 22. In the snaps, the father-son duo were lying down, with two photos showing them laughing with their mouths wide open. Matteo hugs Chigvintsev, crushing their faces together, in the third photo.
the previous Dancing with the stars The pro shares Matteo with his ex-wife Garcia, 41.
Chigvintsev and Garcia started dating In 2019, after two years of competing together during DWTS Season 25. The former couple welcomed Matteo in 2020 and married in 2022.
Nikki Garcia shared new details about the domestic violence incident she and her estranged husband Artem Chigvintsev endured in a restraining order filing. In the document, which was submitted and approved by the judge on Monday, September 30, Garcia, 40, alleged that Chigvintsev, 42, assaulted her several times and pushed her to the ground while their son Mateo[…]
Last August, shortly after Chigvintsev and Garcia celebrated their second wedding anniversary, the professional dancer was He was arrested for domestic battery He was booked on a felony charge of domestic violence After an apparent quarrel With his then wife. (The charges against him were dropped in September after a “thorough” investigation by the Napa County District Attorney Alison Haley common at the time.)
Both Chigvintsev and Garcia She subsequently filed for divorce After the incident in which the former WWE Diva requested full custody of Mateo and Chigvintsev Request for joint custody. They both applied for Restraining orders against each otherwhich has since been dropped.
Us Weekly He confirmed this in November Their divorce was settled.
“Nikki and Artem have settled their divorce and will not be going to court,” Garcia's rep shared in a statement. “Both parties have decided to drop the domestic violence restraining orders against each other in an effort to move forward with their lives and effectively raise their son.”
Garcia She broke her silence about the divorce on a December episode of her podcast called “The Nikki & Brie Show,” which she hosts alongside her twin sister, Brie Garcia.
“I felt very sad,” Garcia told listeners. “You dream of having this family and having this amazing love, and it goes the other way. You go from a great love story to a terrible one.”
Artem Chigvintsev's lawyer claims he was not the “primary aggressor” in his latest domestic violence incident. “We can now focus on negotiating a 50/50 joint custody schedule. Fortunately, Artem has been able to spend time with Mateo nearly every day since the 8/29/2024 incident,” Ilona Antonyan, Chigvintsev’s attorney, said in a statement to us (. ..)
Garcia also explained her silence, stating that she wanted to “cut off contact” to put Mateo's needs first.
She said: “I am a mother, and protecting my son and his privacy is the most important thing.” “I was going to do whatever it took to achieve that most important thing, and then I needed space to heal and to face the trauma head-on.”
She dealt with Divorce was a 'struggle' During the past few months.
“I know I'm a public figure, and I should say a little about this, right?” Garcia noted. “After that, I don't want to talk about it again, because I really want privacy for Matteo. That was the most important part.”
