Nikki and Brie Garcia Talk 'Rebirth at 40' and Spending the Milestone Birthday Apart (Exclusive)
The former WWE wrestlers turn 40 on Tuesday and tell PEOPLE they will be celebrating separately, but they hope to plan a wine tasting trip after Thanksgiving
Brie Garcia and Nikki Garcia plan on keeping their 40th birthday celebrations going for a while.
“We're having a two-month birthday season,” Nikki tells PEOPLE.
The Bonita Bonita Wine founders won’t be ringing in their milestone birthday together on Tuesday, but they hope to reconvene after Thanksgiving to go wine tasting and eventually take a trip to Italy’s Lake Como.
“We're sad because we're actually celebrating our birthdays on the 21st separate,” Brie tells PEOPLE. “I'll be in Arizona with Bryan [Danielson] and my family and my besties there. And then Nikki's going to be in Los Angeles going to Dancing with the Stars.”
Related: Nikki and Brie Garcia on Life After Leaving the WWE: We're 'Making Our Own Decisions' (Exclusive)
Nikki, who met her husband Artem Chigvintsev when she competed on season 25 of DWTS, looks forward to being in the room for the competition's “A Celebration of Taylor Swift” night.
"When I found out what night it was on the 21st, I'm like, ‘Girl, on my 40th birthday, this is the perfect night,’” Nikki says. “I haven't been to a live show yet so I was like, ‘Oh, perfect.’”
The mom of 3-year-old son Matteo plans to end her birthday night at the L.A. location of Caviar Kaspia, one of her favorite restaurants. “That's the perfect ending to my 40th birthday night, is caviar and a baked potato with champagne,” Nikki says.
The Twin Love hosts feel like they’ve accomplished many of the goals they thought they’d achieve by the time they turned 40.
Still, “I didn't know my journey would be here,” Nikki says. “I definitely envisioned being a mom and being in entertainment, but I would've never thought, being a winemaker and Bonita Bonita and living in wine country and actually living and breathing this wine life. That's what's so beautiful about life is it takes the journey you're meant to be on.”
Brie admits that at one point in life, she thought she might’ve been retired at 40. “When you're in your 20s and you think 40s, I was like, ‘I'm going to try to be retired, not do anything, not be on social media,’” the mom of two continues. “I thought I would escape from the world because I do believe at 40, it's a new chapter in life.”
Instead, Brie finds herself ready for more.
“I feel so powerful,” she continues. “I feel like I'm capable of anything and everything and I feel much more daring and want to go on more adventures. You almost start living because you've gone through all the B.S. and the hustle and trying to figure out who you are. At 40, you know who you are and then you start to go after those things that you always desired. I can't believe I thought you stopped living at 40 when I feel like I'm starting to live.”
That’s meant finding a more sustainable balance between work and family.
“We realized, up until a couple years ago, that we were workaholics,” Brie says. “We started to be really mindful to let our brains rest from work and be more present and enjoy the moment with the family and everything. We are so great now about that. Nicole and I are at the point in life where our Friday and Saturday nights are about giggling with the kids, enjoying some really delicious vino, making pizzas. We're like, ‘Who would've thought this would've been our weekend?’ But we love it.”
This new chapter comes after Nikki and Brie, formerly known as The Bella Twins, announced in March that they’d be leaving WWE and relinquishing their stage names.
“I never would've thought going into 40, I wouldn't be a Bella, I'd be a Garcia, but how much it's had me reconnect with what I loved when I was growing up has been amazing,” Nikki says. “I didn't think I'd have a rebirth at 40, but it's been the most exciting thing ever. I just look up all the time and I go, ‘All right, I know your plan. I like it. I needed this.’”
Related: Brie Bella Says Raising a Toddler is Tougher Than Wrestling: ‘There's No 1, 2, 3, Tap’ (Exclusive)
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty
Brie Bella and Nikki BellaEven without the WWE platform, Nikki feels more empowered than ever to use her voice to make an impact.
“When I look back of all the women that I looked up to and made mountains shake, I feel like they all were in their 40s,” the Barmageddon host says. “Brie and I have always had a strong voice, especially for women, and did incredible things at WWE and paved the way, but at this stage now, I've realized my voice, there's no mute button. I get why women in their 40s truly make mountains shake, because you have this incredible confidence about yourself. You're like, ‘Let's go shake s--- up.’”
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