Season 25 “Dancing With the Stars” alum Nikki Garcia spent Valentine’s Day with her son, Matteo, following her split from ballroom pro, Artem Chigvintsev.
“It was actually…I loved it. It was amazing because I got Matteo. Originally, Matteo and I were supposed to go fly and see Mom,” Garcia said on the February 24 episode of the “Nikki and Brie” show.
“Matteo has been talking a lot about San Francisco. So I had this whole idea in my head. I’m like, okay. Maybe we’ll do Half Moon Bay first, then head up to San Francisco. But so Half Moon Bay is everything everyone says. It is magical,” Garcia continued.
The day went by so swimmingly that Garcia didn’t even think about being sad.
“One day, I’ll be getting gifts again maybe on Valentine’s Day. And I buy myself flowers and all that kind of stuff. But I think you know what? Honestly, I think that’s why not for one second did I say, ‘Oh, poor me,’ or ‘Oh, I’m sad.’ I didn’t feel it once,” she admitted.
Garcia and Chigvintsev split in August 2024.
Before the podcast was released, Garcia shared a sweet video of her special Valentine’s Day with Matteo.
“My forever Valentine,” she captioned an Instagram post on February 17. “Such a magical weekend with my Tay Tay. He got to go in a hot air balloon!! They are his FAVORITE! He was so happy! I was so grateful. All I want is my baby boy to be so incredibly happy.”
Fans loved seeing how happy Matteo was in the video and commented such on the post.
“I got just as excited as lil man did. Adorable. Jealous. Def on my bucket list. So dope,” one person wrote.
“Omgawd! Could this video be any more heart warming. Absolutely in love! You are such an amazing Mama! Teo is one lucky little boy,” someone else said.
Nikki Garcia Previously Explained How She’s Approaching the Subject of Divorce With Her Son
In an interview with Us Weekly, Garcia opened up about how she has been approaching her divorce with her 4-year-old.
“I’ve used words like divorce, [but] it’s only been when he’s asked. Everything’s kind of been about us just having our own homes,” Garcia told the outlet.
“You get to go see Mommy and you get to go see Daddy. On Christmas, we made sure we were both there when we baked Santa’s cookies. Matteo went to bed and we both were there when he woke up. Because he’s our focus, we want to keep those moments,” she continued.
