Artem Chigvintsev obtains shared custody of son
Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Garcia have been ordered to share custody of their four-year-old son Matteo.
Artem Chigvintsev has obtained shared custody of his son.
The 42-year-old dancer split from wife Nikki Garcia after two years of marriage in the wake of a row on 29 August that led to police being called and the dancer arrested on domestic violence charges, and while the retired WWE star had requested sole custody of four-year-old Matteo in her divorce filing, with her estranged husband to be given supervised visitation, a court hearing on Tuesday (15.10.24) rules in the former 'Dancing With the Stars' professional's favour.
According to documents obtained by TMZ, a hearing in the Napa County, California court ordered the pair to share custody of the little boy and although Nikki had asked for Artem to be ordered to take anger management classes, the judge didn't appear to do that but ordered them both to take parenting classes.
The dancer - who wasn't charged following his arrest due to a lack of evidence - testified during the hearing that he doesn't have anger issues.
Nikki and Artem's two-day divorce trial has been scheduled for December.
Earlier this month, Artem and Nikki obtained restraining orders against each other, offering different versions of the events that led up to the dancer's arrest.
Artem alleged his spouse appeared stressed due to work and "escalated the argument" by criticising him for not taking an equal share of parenting responsibility, which he insisted was "completely false".
The dancer insisted he then left the room to "let her cool down" while he helped Matteo get ready to leave, but the former wrestler followed and allegedly continued to shout complaints at him, getting angrier at his "calm" responses before she "completely lost it" and told him to get out before "forcefully throwing both of Matteo's sneakers" at him.
Nikki had admitted throwing the shows in her filing after growing "overwhelmed" by Artem yelling at her, but insisted they "weigh hardly anything and could not have hurt him."
Artem told how he had taken Matteo to his room and wouldn't let Nikki in, but when she forced her way in, the little boy began crying so he moved himself and his wife out to the hallway.
He alleged: "I tried to get her off me and away from the door frame so that Matteo would not witness any further conflict.
"I cannot stress enough how many times I pleaded with her to stop and calm down. There was a mutual struggle, and both ended up on the ground. At that moment, I knew that nothing I would say would get to her [and] make her calm down.
"I was hurt and scared of her continuing on. I needed help for her to stop."
In her own filing, Nikki stated Artem had opened the door and "tackled" her to the ground before pinning her down when she tried to get in the bedroom, and pushing down on her chest.
Artem called police and remained outside until they arrived but was ultimately arrested, which he noted in his filing had surprised him as he wasn't the primary aggressor.
He included photos of injuries he alleged had been caused by 40-year-old Nikki in his paperwork.
