Nikki Bella thought she was making a harmless joke. Instead, she spent SummerSlam weekend explaining it. Days after her comments about being “celibate” spread across wrestling and entertainment websites, the WWE Hall of Famer admitted the entire thing caught her completely off guard—and looking back, she wishes it had never become a story.
Speaking on The Nikki & Brie Show, Nikki couldn’t help laughing at how one offhand comment snowballed into headlines everywhere: “Yeah… headlines about being celibate.” Brie wasn’t surprised in the slightest. She joked that Nikki has a habit of saying something funny, only for everyone else to take it seriously.
“Well you say stuff like you joke about that kinda stuff and then people just take it and go.”
The timing was what bothered Nikki the most. Instead of spending the day thinking about her SummerSlam match, she suddenly found herself getting text messages and having people walk up to her to talk about a joke she’d barely thought twice about. To Nikki, it never felt like something anyone would actually write articles about.
“I was so embarrassed. And the fact that they all dropped Saturday and I’m getting all these text messages or people coming up to me and I was like, wait, what? And they’re like showing me and I’m like, oh my gosh, I can’t even think about this. I have… I have comeback to prepare for. It was… it was such a throwaway comment and then just to see it in writing. Do you know what I mean?”
Things became even stranger once she realized people were attaching different names to the story, despite her never mentioning anyone.
“That’s why it’s especially when I didn’t name a person at all and then they’re attaching all these different guys to headlines.”
Nikki could only laugh at how ridiculous it had become: “Dude, what the heck? I was just so embarrassed.” Then came the twist she definitely didn’t see coming. After all the headlines, Nikki decided to look up the definition of “celibate” and realized she’d been using the word incorrectly the entire time.
“Well then when I googled it, celibate meant… I was like laughing so hard. I didn’t know. It’s like someone who chooses no marriage and no sex. I just thought… I don’t know.”
Nikki’s original interview was meant to be a lighthearted conversation about why she isn’t dating right now. Instead, one throwaway joke became one of the most talked-about stories surrounding her SummerSlam weekend. Now, she’s laughing about it—but after everything that followed, it’s safe to say she’ll probably think twice before throwing around the word “celibate” again.
Do you think Nikki Bella’s comment was blown out of proportion, or was it always going to become a headline? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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