John Cena’s First Comments After Breaking Up With Nikki Bella

John Cena and Nikki Bella have broken off their engagement and have decided to end their six-year relationship, as first reported by Us Weekly.

The couple addressed the breakup in a joint statement, which Nikki shared on Twitter and Instagram.

“After much contemplation and 6 years of being together Nikki Bella and John Cena announced today their decision to separate as a couple,” the statement reads.

“While this decision was a difficult one, we continue to have a great deal of love and respect for one another. We ask that you respect our privacy during this time in our lives.”

Shortly after the news broke last night, Cena posted the following on Instagram.

A post shared by John Cena (@johncena) on Apr 15, 2018 at 8:20pm PDT

He then posted the following on Twitter this morning.

Hardship, loss, and humility are extremely difficult waters to navigate, but perseverance thru them builds a strength to withstand anything life throws your way.

— John Cena (@JohnCena) April 16, 2018

As it turns out, Cena indicated they had broken up on Saturday with this Instagram post.

A post shared by John Cena (@johncena) on Apr 14, 2018 at 5:13am PDT

Cena, 40, proposed to Bella, 34, one year ago at WrestleMania 33. The two had been dating since 2012. The pair were last were spotted in public together at Wrestlemania 34 on Sunday, April 8.

Last month, Cena spoke with Us Weekly about his relationship with Bella, feeling that it takes a lot of work.

“Relationships are hard. Don’t ever think that love is easy. Love is beautiful, but we’ve had to come to the realization after being together for five years that love is not easy,” Cena said. “We work every day on us. We have our problems just like everybody else. Some of our problems are very public, some of them aren’t. But we work every day on us. Anytime I get upset, I always just realize that I can’t live without her and I love her and that’s why I cave in on a lot of stuff.”

He continued: “It takes being able to mesh two lives. I would never ever want Nicole to be in a position where she says, ‘I’m holding you back from doing this because I feel it’s wrong for us.’ And I would never say that to her. That’s why she’s super busy and sometimes we don’t see each other for months at a time, but when we do see each other, it’s our time together. I think, for now at least, that is certainly what’s making this work.”