Dancing with the Stars' professional Gleb Savchenko. Picture: Instagram
Dancing with the Stars' professional Gleb Savchenko has sent his "love and positivity" to Artem Chigvintsev following his arrest and divorce.
As the new season of the hit dance show got underway on Tuesday, September 17, the 41-year-old dancer had a message of support for his friend and former colleague, after his wife Nikki Garcia, 40, filed for divorce from him and he was arrested for domestic violence.
He told 'E! News': “He’s part of the family.
“He’s such a great dancer that people don’t realize. He’s the quality. It’s not about quantity, it’s about the quality.”
Without alluding to the 42-year-old star's personal woes, Gleb said: “He’s just my brother and I send him love and positivity."
Both Artem and Nikki listed the reason for their split as "irreconcilable differences" and confirmed their date of separation as 29 August, the day of his arrest.
Artem was arrested by the Napa County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of felony corporal injury to spouse or cohabitant.
Audio of a 911 call obtained by TMZ featured a dispatcher saying the dancer had alleged his spouse had thrown her shoes at him.
The clip featured the dispatcher saying Artem's call "initially came in as requesting medical, but now he is stating he got into an argument with his wife and his wife threw shoes at RP [reporting party].
"There is a child on scene. Medical en route.
"There's an active 415 [disturbing the peace] in the background responsible."
But he then stated he no longer needed medical assistance, with the dispatcher confirming: "RP is stating no medical is needed now."
Artem was released later in the day on $25,000 bond.
The pair met on 'Dancing With the Stars' in 2017 but didn't start dating until the following year, after the retired wrestler had split from John Cena.
The pair - who have four-year-old son Matteo together - got engaged in January 2020 and married in Paris in August 2022.