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Season 29 “Dancing With the Stars” champ Kaitlyn Bristowe did a Q&A on her Instagram Stories on September 2. One fan asked Bristowe how she felt about her former DWTS partner, Artem Chigvintsev getting arrested.
“My thought on this is that I am not going to say anything until they are ready to say something. They have asked for privacy and when people ask for privacy, I find media outlets and everybody has an opinion. My only thought is that domestic violence is so unacceptable and so scary and so sad. And I hope everybody’s okay. My heart goes out to little Matteo,” Bristowe said on her IG Stories.
“I’m just praying for all of them to either get better or to find peace and space and help and I just find this really tough to talk about ‘cuz it makes me very sad,” she added.
Bristowe won the Mirrorball Trophy alongside Chigvintsev in 2020. The ballroom pro was arrested in Napa County on August 29. A booking record obtained by Heavy reveals that Chigvintsev faces a felony charge of corporal injury to spouse.
He hasn’t spoken out about the arrest at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, his wife, Nikki Garcia, has asked for privacy.
Kaitlyn Bristowe & Artem Chigvintsev Didn’t Keep in Touch After Their DWTS Season
Bristowe and Chigvintsev had a professional relationship on “Dancing With the Stars” that didn’t really turn into a friendship at all.
In July 2022, Bristowe was a guest on Melissa Joan Hart’s podcast, “What Women Binge.” During the interview, Bristowe recalled her relationship with Chigvintsev and remembered him being “cut-throat” and “angry.”
“I think he was going through stuff in his own personal life and I was, like, so giddy to be in there, and he was going through so much on the outside world,” Bristowe said. Past their time on the show, however, Bristowe and Chigvintsev became strangers once more.
“You know, what’s funny is I actually feel like Artem and I had — it [was] like a business,” Bristowe told Us Weekly in October 2022. “And then we moved forward, and I haven’t really talked to him, which is kind of sad. I don’t know. He’s busy… he’s dancing every day. He’s got a little sweet boy at home, and he just got married, which I was so excited for them,” she added.
Kaitlyn Bristowe & Nikki Garcia Previously Discussed Artem Chigvintsev Being ‘Strict’
Years before Nikki Garcia married Chigvintsev, she was partnered with him on “Dancing With the Stars.” In the time since, Garcia has chatted with Bristowe a handful of times during which the two women have compared notes on a “strict” Chigvintsev.
“He kind of made a comment about my jive and got really mad at me,” Garcia said on a 2021 episode of Bristowe’s “Off the Vine” podcast.
“And I was like, ‘You know what, dude? J.Lo and Beyonce don’t jive. I don’t have time for this.’ And I walked out and I got in my car. I remember at the time calling John [Cena] going like, ‘I am quitting. Like, I am not going to stand for this. He is a [expletive,” Garcia added.
Garcia went on to explain that when Chigvintsev “gets really stressed, he doesn’t realize his tone.” In the same interview, Bristowe told Garcia that she thought Chigvintsev didn’t like her.
“I was like, maybe he just didn’t like me at all as a person. Because I’ve heard all the dancers are like that – very strict, that’s kind of how they grew up in their world of dancing, that’s how they were taught – and Artem even said to me, ‘I don’t want to use Russia as an excuse, but I’m Russian,'” she recalled.
READ NEXT: Nikki Garcia Makes First Public Appearance Since Artem Chigvintsev’s Arrest
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