I grew up in an era where there weren’t many twins around. Multiple births weren’t very common, and so twins were always so exotic to me whenever I did meet them (I’ve never even met a triplet!). But with all the advancements in fertility treatments, twins and multiples have become more commonplace and maybe that spooky, strange twin sh-t isn’t really a thing anymore? Or maybe it is. I bring this up because I’ve always been fascinated with twin sh-t, how twins do have that spooky sixth-sense about each other, even when they’re hundreds of miles apart. And so many twins end up doing major stuff at the same time. Well, guess what? Twins Nikki and Brie Bella are both pregnant and due within about a week of each other.
Surprise: Nikki and Brie Bella are (both!) pregnant! In this week’s issue of PEOPLE, the Total Bella stars, both 36, reveal they’re both expecting — and they’re due only a week and a half apart. “Wait, twins being pregnant at the same time?” Brie says. “People are going to think that’s a joke. We both are shocked. People are going to think we planned it, but you can’t really plan pregnancy!”
“[It was] a total surprise,” Nikki adds. “It took even me a good week to come to terms with like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m pregnant.’ I’m not ready for it.”
Brie, who shares 2-year-old daughter Birdie with husband and pro wrestler Daniel Bryan, was “shocked” to learn she’d conceived shortly after she decided she was “meant to have one child.”
“My husband and I were trying for seven or eight months, but then I felt in my heart it was a sign from God, like, ‘You guys are good with one,’ so we stopped trying,” says Brie. “When we were in France meeting Artem’s family, I felt a little off. I was irritated and uncomfortable in my body. When we got home, I took a test two days before Thanksgiving, and when I saw the positive sign, I was like, ‘Oh, s—!’ “
For Nikki, she says she and her new fiancé, Dancing with the Stars pro Artem Chigvintsev, weren’t trying, but she had a “feeling.”
“I was in yoga, and I kept getting this feeling that you need to take a pregnancy test, but I wasn’t even late yet,” says Nikki, who got engaged during a romantic trip to France in November. “And so I’m like, ‘Why do I keep having this feeling? Am I getting twin vibes from her? Because she just told me she’s pregnant?’ I didn’t tell Artem at this point. I just want to do this by myself. When I came back in, and it said pregnant, I had to sit down for a second.”
Because they share everything, from birthdays to WWE titles, the Bellas say they’re experiencing the same symptoms too.
“We have definitely felt better in our lives,” says Brie. “It’s actually crazy because we both have the same symptoms. So we’ve been super nauseous.”
“I feel like I literally have a hangover every day and it’s crazy because I’m not going out and partying,” adds Nikki. “I’m not hitting up my usual happy hours. There’s no wine in my life. It’s like having a hangover. I think what’s been the hardest part on me is feeling this hangover every day.” She continues “My eating habits have changed. I thought that, ‘Okay, I’m gonna stay healthy. I’m going to be good.’ But when it kicks in, this feeling, you only want french fries and ketchup. Vegetables sound disgusting. Anything healthy, honestly, sounds disgusting.”
It is legitimately weird, right? Less so for Brie, she and her husband were clearly trying for another kid and then – as so often happens – they got pregnant as soon as they stopped stressing about it. But it’s weird for Bella, who went from “runaway bride to John Cena” to “knocked up with her fiance’s baby” in record time. I kind of don’t believe Nikki wasn’t “trying” in some sense. Like, I doubt it was a complete surprise for her. Anyway, twin sh-t remaining spooky and weird and delightful in 2020. WHEN WILL THE OLSENS.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I have never considered whether there were more or less twins when I was growing up vs. now. Is this a thing? I’ve never noticed. I remain team “twins are spooky.”
I just looked it up. Apparently I don’t pay attention!
Good for Nikki! She was always clear that she wanted a family and her relationship with Jon looked like it was less than ideal. He seemed to put a lot of rules and restrictions on what she could do. Hopefully she’s found someone who respects her and her wishes in her new relationship.
I’m actually really happy for Nikki. I remember when all the wedding stuff with John Cena was going down, having kids was a big sticking point for them…he didn’t want them and she did. And I remember like…not believing the off-and-on part of their relationship? Like I thought it was a storyline for wrestling/their reality shows. The final breakup and her meeting someone else was a huge surprise, and now I’m just really delighted for her that she gets to be a mom since she clearly really wanted that. Congrats to both ladies!
I’m glad she finally left. He never wanted kids and it would have been a terrible idea to try and change his mind, no kid needs a reluctant parent. I’m surprised they got as far as they did.
I, too, like reading about twin things including cases about twins separated at birth and similarities they share regarding hobbies, tastes, etc. I have paternal identical twin uncles and maternal fraternal twin aunts. I also have fraternal twin cousins on my moms side.
Congrats to them both.
I dated an identical twin for several years. One evening I was driving with him and he started having a full on panic attack. He said “something is wrong. Something is wrong with my brother”
This was in the 90’s. Cell phones had just come out. He used all 200 of my minutes trying to find him to no avail. Exhausted he said, “just go to he hospital and check. Please!”
Sure enough. His brother was there. He was tying his shoe near a pool table at a local bar when a patron hit him in the mouth with the butt of the pool stick knocking out all four of his front teeth.
Even crazier was several years later the twin I dated slipped on a wet floor and busted HIS four front teeth out.
(Of course they had replacements made but still..just weird)
Twins are cool not spooky. And I doubt Nikki was trying. I think she was probably wanting to do things “in order” in the traditional sense. Engagement, marriage, baby. Otherwise I don’t think she would have been pushing John to get married and would have instead pushed for a baby.
Either way Im happy for her. John stung her along for YEARS. I used to watch the reality show they were on and he treated her terribly. He treated his live-in girlfriend like a guest in his house. It was weird. He always seemed only one foot in in their relationship. And the only reason he proposed was because she threatened to leave him. Which is a terrible way to start a marriage. Im glad she came to her senses and just left him.
Please don’t call twins “weird” and “spooky”. My twin and I hate it – and there’s nothing weird and spooky about us. We just have a close relationship. Close siblings. We don’t have sixth sense. Whatever these girls Nikki and Brie have done, they have done for publicity. They are in the entertainment business. They are exploiting their twin-ness. There’s nothing weird about it.
I was calling the fact that they both lost their same exact teeth “weird”, not their bond, nor the fact that they were twins.
I think twins are amazing and I loved hearing their stories their mom told me about them.
Trust me, she had plenty, but that was my one experience I’ll never forget that I witnessed first hand.
My sister and I had our first babies one day apart. It was so wonderful having someone so close to me who was having the same experience I was! She was due 2 weeks after I was, and my son was a week late and her daughter a week early! I was so mad that she went into labor first because an extra week with my 9lb tagalong was miserable! I cried all day when I found out. Lol Then 12 hours later, my water broke.
My sister and I aren’t twins but we have 2 kids that are both within like, weeks of each other. She has 2 boys and I have 2 girls. It def wasn’t planned.
When my twin was in labor I was gripping her side rails and every time she had a contraction I’d drop to my haunches and start grunting, I realized what I was doing when I looked up and the OBGYN was looking at me with an astonished look on his face 👀!
It’s on video and it’s mortifying….
That’s not the only time I’ve felt her phantom pain..
Hmmmmmm smells like publicity stunt to me. I’m willing to bet that they planned it, they aren’t nearly as close in gestation as they claim, and when one of them gives birth much earlier than the other, they will say the baby was premature.
Just my two cents.
I’m confused by the definition of “not trying”. I’m assuming that the sisters collectively meant that they weren’t using ovulation kits, deliberately having sex on fertile days, etc. But that’s not the definition of “trying”. If you’re not consistently using a reliable form of birth control, you are most definitely “trying”.
Generally, trying means actively trying not to have a baby, timing things properly, actively keeping an eye on the calendar etc, making a conscious effort. As opposed to “not trying but not not teyung” where you just have sex and if you get pregnant great but not stressing about it.
I think it’s cool how twins are so interconnected. Look up the Jim Twins if you haven’t heard of them – they were separated at birth but were both named Jim, both married women with the same name, both divorced and then remarried women who also shared a name, and named their kids the same name. It’s crazy!
I doubt either Olsen twin will have a baby.
I have fraternal twin 10week boys. Twins aren’t spooky, but they’re awesome!! Identical twins are probably more in sync, but really I think it mostly bares down to just a close sibling relationship with a sibling same age going through things at the same time. They haven’t recognized each other yet, but when they had a brief stint in the NICU the nurses put them in the same bassinet and both their temperatures, heart rates, and breathing steadied. It was so neat 💙💙, I wish I hadn’t been so drugged from my surgery to remember it more clearly.
I have fraternal twin 10week boys. Twins aren’t spooky, but they’re awesome!! Identical twins are probably more in sync, but really I think it mostly bares down to just a close sibling relationship with a sibling same age going through things at the same time. They haven’t recognized each other yet, but when they had a brief stint in the NICU the nurses put them in the same bassinet and both their temperatures, heart rates, and breathing steadied. It was so neat 💙💙, I wish I hadn’t been so drugged from my surgery to remember it more clearly.
Brie Bella remains the only famous person I’ve ever interacted with. My husband recognized hers at a playground we were at, and afterwards I looked him up and figured it out. So, congratulations to famous friend Brie!
Twins and multiples are crazy cool..I just saw a sad doc about triplets separated a few months after birth and who reunited in their early 20s. They exhibited separation anxiety as infants/toddlers but didnt realize it until they reunited later. Such a sad doc. Apparently the Louise Wise adoption agency separated twins and multiples as part of a science experiment. the results have never been published and their records missing. There are adult twins/multiples that dont know they have siblings to this day.