After more than a dozen seasons of “Dancing With the Stars” glory, Artem Chigvintsev continued to hustle for professional dancing gigs, as he and his estranged wife Nicki Garcia tried to build a happy life for themselves and their 4-year-old son in Napa Valley.
But now those dance gigs have disappeared, after Chigvintsev said he was falsely accused of domestic violence in an Aug. 29 incident in Yountville, which led to the collapse of his two-year marriage to the former WWE wrestler.
In new court papers related to their divorce, the Russian-born Chigvintsev said he lost $100,000 in income as a dancer after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, TMZ reported.
Chigvintsev said he was still working as a professional dancer after “Dancing With the Stars,” despite Garcia’s claims that he could no longer get such work, TMZ reported. He said he regularly picked up dance jobs on Saturdays and Sundays, and each project would last 20 weekends.
“It is not true that I have not been able to find other work as a dancer,” Chigvintsev said in the court documents, the Daily Mail also reported. After his arrest, “based on her false allegations,” Chigvintsev’s mugshot was released to the public, resulting in lost work. He requests that Garcia be compelled to cover his lost earnings, his rent for a new home and a portion of his legal fees.
Garcia alleged in October that her husband was “cut” from the upcoming season of “Dancing With The Stars,” a week before the domestic violence incident, and she said he had begun to “work at a construction job and felt it was beneath him,” People reported.
“Since being cut from ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ Artem had been growing increasingly angry, snapping at me, and yelling,” Garcia alleged, according to People. “We had discussions about his need to control his anger.”
In the Aug. 29 incident, it was Chigvintsev who made the 911 call from a Yountville location, requesting medical assistance and saying that shoes had been thrown at him, TMZ reported at the time.
Chigvintsev subsequently canceled the request for assistance, but sheriff’s deputies turned up anyway and took him into custody, based on deputies seeing a visible injury on the alleged victim, a sheriff’s spokesperson said. The alleged victim was never officially identified but was presumed to be Garcia.
Chigvintsev was released on bail several hours after his arrest, and the estranged couple filed dueling requests for restraining orders. In his request for a restraining order, Chigvintsev claimed that Garcia had been the primary aggressor.
After Napa Valley District Attorney Allison Haley declined to file charges, Chigvintsev issued a statement saying, “I am thankful that the truth has prevailed,” People reported.
News of Chigvintsev’s arrest ended what appeared to be a reality TV-style fairy-tale romance, involving the two celebrities. They met while appearing together on “Dancing With the Stars,” partnering for Season 25 in 2017. They began dating and became engaged in 2020. That year, Garcia also gave birth to their son, Matteo.
Apparently at the behest of Garcia, the couple moved to Napa Valley in 2020, following her retirement from professional wrestling. Garcia partnered with Brie, her twin sister and former wrestling partner, in making wine under their Bonita Bonita wine label. The sisters’ Bonita Bonita wine website said they were “families in a place they love and living their dream.”
The sisters opened a reservation-only Bonita Bonita tasting room in downtown Napa this past spring, with their website also saying that local residents will “always find” the sisters “drinking wine amongst the vines.” Their wines are supposed to be a “celebration of femininity and flavor,” produced “with care by passionate women,” the website said.
Chigvintsev has said that Garcia’s career has not suffered from the incident, even though “she abused me, not the other way around,” according to his court filing for a restraining order, the Daily Mail also reported. “She threw shoes at me, followed me and tried to break her way into the bedroom.”
“I cannot trust her anymore,” Chigvintsev continued. “Not only did she lie to the police so that her career remains intact, ruining mine, but she used the court proceeding to keep our son away from me for almost a month, not letting me see him until this court issued its 50/50 orders on 10/15/2024, which I am very grateful for.”
Indeed, on Oct. 15, a Napa County Superior Court judge ruled for the exes to share custody of their 4-year-old son, People reported.
Now, Chigvintsev said he’s trying to repair the damage to his career, but it’s been an uphill battle since his arrest. “I also lost the social media promotion revenue, which she continues to benefit from as she was more worried about her career when she lied to the police,” he said in court documents.
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