“I don’t want to make up with people just because they’re family. I’m not sitting here crying every night about it.”
Nikki Bella isn’t ready to extend an olive branch to her brother JJ Garcia just yet.
On Thursday night’s episode of “Total Bellas,” the former WWE star and her sister Brie had a conversation about Nikki’s strained relationship with their brother, whom Nikki recently had a falling out with following an argument about politics.
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Nikki Bella and Brother JJ Garcia Had Falling Out After ‘Massive Fight About Politics’
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While Brie attempted to get her twin to reach out to JJ, Nikki didn’t budge, saying she doesn’t want to have those types of “negative conversations” around her son, Matteo.
“He doesn’t write me at all, ever since that fight,” she told Brie, before adding in a confessional, “Ever since I reconnected with my father, JJ and I, we just don’t see eye to eye on some things in life. The last time I saw him, we got into this massive fight about politics. And it’s caused us not to speak. Like, it was the last straw.”
Although Nikki didn’t go into much detail about the argument, she claimed JJ “destroyed” her with words and “kept saying mean things after mean things.”
“Like terrible stuff. I couldn’t even look at him and [his wife] Lauren to tell you the truth because I’m just disgusted,” she told her sister.
In a confessional, Nikki added, “With all the family drama, I think we’re kind of both in that place where we both need distance from each other. This is why I don’t feel like having a baby shower.”
In response, Brie said it was okay to keep certain family members “at a distance” due to their beliefs, but she added that “you don’t keep ’em away forever.”
Brie continued to try to get Nikki to be more open to contacting JJ — reiterating that he’s family — and said she should “make up” with their brother before their babies are born.
However, Nikki doubled down on her stance and said she’s not in any rush to reach out to JJ.
“This is the thing. I don’t want to make up with people just because they’re family. I’m not sitting here crying every night about it,” she explained. “I feel actually great and relieved. I don’t have to have negative conversations.”
“But it’s your brother,” Brie pushed, to which Nikki replied, “I get what you’re saying — it’s family — but I’m sorry. I’m not going to have that around my son.”
Later in the episode, Brie and Nikki had a virtual appointment with relationship expert Tracy McMillan, who offered some advice to Nikki on how she should approach the situation with JJ.
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“It’s not that I want to exit out the family,” Nikki told McMillan. “There’s majority that don’t want to discuss my father and that brings tension and then we don’t like to debate about politics or other things which brings a lot of tension.”
According to McMillan, people often want to discuss controversial topics because it’s “mood-altering.”
“People get to discharge a lot of their feelings of anger or resentment and it’s a way to process that and not feel it at the same time,” she said, before suggesting that Nikki relay this to her brother and “make an agreement” not to bring up topics that create tension.
“There’s one way to be in a relationship with people that you have differences with,” McMillan continued. “We know the issues that cause the problems and we don’t go there, so much of healthy family systems is about making agreements.”
“But what if they don’t want to make those agreements?” Nikki asked, to which she didn’t receive a reply.
“Total Bellas” airs on Thursday nights at 9 pm ET on E!
