Nikki Bella and fiancé Artem Chigvintsev welcomed son Matteo in late July, and on Tuesday the “Total Bellas” star was joined by her sister Brie (who also recently welcomed a baby) for a candid discussion with fellow new mom Ashley Graham on her “Pretty Big Deal” podcast.
“What I’ve realized is, as moms, we don’t talk about that enough because I think we feel like everyone then automatically thinks we hate our baby if we say we have postpartum depression, which, that’s not it at all,” Nikki explained during the chat.
“It’s totally the battle within yourself, within your partner [or] significant other,” she continued. “Especially, I think, for career women.”
She continued by explaining why transitioning from career to motherhood can be difficult.
“We go from like these major careers and then we’re here. And then I’m looking in the mirror and then I think us, in the spotlight, we have so much pressure on us to get back to where we were in a short amount of time,” continued.
Graham agreed about the expectation of “the snapback,” slamming it as “bulls**t.”
“It messes with you,” Nikki agreed. “Literally, someone the other day was like, ‘Gosh, she’s still big!’ and I was like ‘Excuse me?'”
According to Nikki, her sister has really helped her accept her post-baby body.
“She makes me, like, grab parts of my body I don’t like and then I say, like, ‘Thank you for creating Matteo and making him healthy,'” the 37 year old explained. “And [I’m] appreciating and loving my body.”
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Nikki also opened up about her postpartum depression, and her apprehension about what viewers will think of her when watch her experience it firsthand in the new season of “Total Bellas”.
“It was really hard on me,” she said of the postpartum depression she experienced, “and it’s gonna be hard with ‘Total Bellas’ because I still was filming and I recently watched the two episodes and I go, ‘Brie, I’m gonna be hated because what if people don’t understand postpartum depression?’ Like, you completely see me just falling apart as a human being and as a mom.”
However, she also explained why she wants viewers to see those episodes. “I want to put it out there because it’s a real thing,” said Nikki. “And I like to show how people around you adapt to that and how you can help yourself.”
