“People don’t realize because we are in the public eye — and when people strongly disagree with us — we put our lives at risk.”
Nikki Bella is responding to the backlash she received after she promoted a photography book about Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Many Trump supporters ripped Nikki on social media for posting a photo of herself with the book titled, “The Rock: Through the Lens: His Life, His Movies, His World” earlier this week (see above) after Johnson had recently endorsed Joe Biden.
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Bellas Podcast,” the former WWE star addressed the controversy, recalling how it all went down from her perspective.
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Nikki first clarified that her “love post” was to show her support for the book’s author, photographer Hiriam Garcia, and had nothing to do with politics.
“We know as authors … how much work you put into making your first book; to any book you have,” Nikki told her twin sister Brie Bella and their listeners. “And the minute you get your first book published and it hit shelves, how proud you are. You’re just so excited. It’s a huge accomplishment. So when I got [Garcia’s book] in the mail, I just remember that feeling when we dropped ‘Incomparable.'”
The “Total Bellas” star said she shared her post on Instagram and then went to put her and Artem Chigvintsev’s 2-month-old son, Matteo, “back down for a nap.”
“Then I looked at social media and all of a sudden I was like, ‘What the f–k?’ I’m like, how did this turn into a political debate?'” Nikki said.
“I’m not even thinking — of course, the book is about The Rock [or] photography about The Rock — [and] he just endorsed Joe Biden,” she continued. “First of all, that never crossed my mind. Not once.”
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Nikki said her “first instinct” was to delete the post, noting that her “rule” on her social media accounts is to not talk about politics.
“It sucks that you can support someone — support a friend and their amazing accomplishment — and how it turns into negativity and you get this backlash and it turns into something so political,” she explained, noting that she received comments such as “BOYCOTT ALL BELLA PRODUCTS!!!!” and “Oh noo! TRUMP 2020.”
The new mom, who decided against deleting the post, sent a message to her followers.
“Nikki Bella’s account, this is all about positivity, love and light,” Nikki said. “I embrace everyone’s beliefs because I was raised to believe — and I learned on my own — that everyone is gonna have different opinions and beliefs.”
“That’s what makes the world go round. We’re all never going to think the same,” she continued, adding that she has “friends who believe differently” than she does.
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“We love each other. We don’t get mad. We’re not hateful,” Nikki explained. “I just wish we can respect each other.”
The former “Dancing with the Stars” contestant went on to weigh in on the idea that celebrities have a responsibility to use their platforms to talk about politics.
“People don’t realize because we are in the public eye — and when people strongly disagree with us — we put our lives at risk,” Nikki said. “A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to get a death threat and people follow up on it. People come to your homes.”
She continued, “I think sometimes, when people call celebrities out, why they don’t speak more is we have to think about our lives and our family’s lives, unfortunately.”
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