Brie Bella is always the forgotten sister of Nikki Bella, but while her sister is currently stealing all of the headlines following her breakup with John Cena, Brie is still happily married to former World Champion Daniel Bryan. The couple tied the knot back in 2014 and have since welcomed a daughter Birdie, but their relationship has definitely been a challenging one over the past year as the couple has attempted to juggle Daniel Bryan's return to the ring as well as Brie's aspirations to return to her former career along with the latest addition to her family.

Brie and Daniel's relationship has been able to skate under the radar over the past few years, even though they are as much of a part of Total Divas and Total Bellas as her sister and former World Champion John Cena, they're not pushed as much.

The following list looks at just 15 little-known facts about Brie and Daniel's relationship, the facts that even the biggest fans of the couple are unaware of. Brie and her husband may be seen as one of the most popular couples in WWE, but there are a few things that they have tried to keep private about their very public relationship.

15 Brie Retired From WWE To Look After Her Family

The entire WWE Universe remembers the day back in February 2016 when Bryan made his way to the ring and retired from competition after what was months of reports concerning his return. Bryan was emotional as he said goodbye to the only career he had ever known after 16 years and this then affected his wife who was still part of the Women's Division at that time.

Brie saw her husband walk away from the company and she saw how emotional it made him.

So she made the decision to retire from wrestling herself less than two months later when she wrestled as part of the 10-diva tag match at WrestleMania 32 and was victorious when she made Naomi tap to her husband's famous Yes Lock. Brie's sister then came down to the ring to celebrate with her and that was the last time the WWE Universe saw Brie in a wrestling ring before this year's Women's Royal Rumble. It was just three months after Brie's retirement that WWE announced that Bryan would be the new General Manager of SmackDown Live, which put him back out on the road again, leaving Brie behind after she had just decided to change her career path for him.

14 Bryan's Father Passed Away Just weeks After Their Wedding

Daniel Bryan married his long-time girlfriend Brie Bella back in 2014, just days after he was able to not only main event WrestleMania 30, but also win the World Championship. Despite it being one of the best weeks of Bryan's life, tragedy struck a few weeks later when it was revealed that Bryan's father had passed away. Bryan had only recently returned from his honeymoon with Brie when he got the news on April 21st 2014. Ever the performer, Bryan decided that despite his bad news he would still be on Raw that night since "the show must go on".

Bryan and his father were very close and it's nice to know that he was able to watch his son marry the love of his life just weeks before he passed away. Brie supported Bryan through what was a whirlwind month for him after April started out so bright for him with his WrestleMania win and his marriage to Brie, things started to go downhill. It was only a few weeks after his father's passing that Bryan's injuries started to become a problem and the company began pushing for him to drop the World Championship that he had fought so hard for.

13 Brie Revealed All About Their Love Life

There have been a number of instances on Total Divas and Total Bellas over the past few years where Brie and Nikki have proved that they tell each other just about everything. One of these times was when the duo was out shopping and Brie was talking about getting pregnant before she then described in detail how their private life worked.

Brie explained to her sister that the couple had an entire process that they had to go through because Bryan liked to relax and cuddle, which could be why the duo hadn't been involved in more than a month. Luckily, Nikki stepped in and gave her sister some advice and Brie then stated that she and her husband were back on track. The twins have definitely reached points where they share way too much information with their fanbase, but luckily Bryan doesn't watch Total Bellas or Total Divas so he will be completely unaware of the things that Brie is telling the world about their lives together. Nikki shares a lot of information about her life with John as well, but some of this could just be because the show needs ratings and this kind of information usually draws some people to watch.

12 Sheamus' Involvement In Their First Night Together

It definitely hasn't been smooth sailing for one of the most popular couples in WWE over the past seven years, but many fans believe that they have the perfect relationship because they have fewer problems than Brie's sister Nikki and her former fiance John Cena. Daniel Bryan's autobiography that was released back in 2015 highlighted one of the most amusing issues that the couple has ever had, which dates back to 2011 when the pair was attempting to spend their first night together.

Bryan claimed that he and Brie were attempting to get some alone time in their hotel room while they were still on the road with WWE when Sheamus decided to burst in along with Ted DiBiase. When the realized what the couple was up to he simply exclaimed: "Ah, Fella." Needless to say, this didn't go down too well with either of the stars and after Sheamus and Ted had finally left the room the couple decided that it was perhaps much safer to go asleep. Brie shares a lot of intimate details about the couple on Total Divas, but it appears that Bryan doesn't mind letting the public in on a few of his personal secrets either.

11 Brie's Ex-Boyfriend Passed Away When She Was Younger

Brie Bella wasn't part of a high profile WWE relationship before she met Daniel, much like her sister instead it was reported that Brie was in a relationship when she was in high school and it was one that she considered to be quite serious. Brie was just 18-years-old when her boyfriend passed away, but she decided to remember him by having bear claws tattooed on her body.

Brie revealed that these bear claws had a reasoning behind them.

He had made her a bear figure in art class in their senior year and she kept it on her desk next to her bed. Brie was able to move on from such a tragedy at an early age to be able to date again since she was known to have been in a relationship with Richie Kotzen, who is the former guitarist for Poison. Their relationship lasted for more than five years before the couple decided that their lives were moving in different directions, but Brie has since moved on to marry Daniel Bryan and start her own beautiful family, so maybe everything happened for a reason and the heartache she went through when she was younger helped to push her forward.

10 It Was Actually Nikki Bella That Kissed Daniel Bryan First

Daniel Bryan was stuck in a storyline with Nikki and Brie Bella which saw the twins fighting for the affections of the former NEXUS star. Interestingly, the couple can now tell their daughter that as part of the storyline back in November 2010, Bryan had to kiss both of the women and after Brie ran into the ring and kissed him on the cheek, Nikki grabbed him and properly kissed him first.

This was a long time before Bryan and Brie were together in real life. The couple made it clear that at the time they were just friends, they didn't actually start dating until a few months after, but in the storyline, Nikki was obviously the more dominant of the two women. Bryan never actually had to choose between the twins though since they later found him backstage kissing Gail Kim and that was seemingly the end of the story. Brie and Daniel later looked back at the footage of their first on-screen kiss as part of their Youtube channel, where they pointed out that this was more than eight years ago and they both looked so young. It was an embarrassing thing for both stars to look back on, but they decided that it was time to show their daughter the video of their first real kiss.

9 Brie Bella Inspired Her Husband's Return

After more than two years on the sidelines, Daniel Bryan made his return to the ring back at WrestleMania after it was revealed that he had finally been cleared by the company's doctors.

Bryan addressed the WWE Universe after he was cleared and stated that the one person that he had to thank for pushing him through the past two years was Brie.

Bryan delivered an emotional promo on SmackDown Live the day he was cleared where he revealed that he was so close to quitting so many times over the past two years but his wife kept reminding him that: “If you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you.” Brie was the one who kept pushing him to get more opinions on his course of treatment and it was because of Brie that Bryan decided not to leave WWE and head to the Indys because he was afraid that he would suffer more concussions and then leave Brie to raise Birdie on her own. Brie hasn't been seen on WWE TV in a long time, but behind the scenes, she has been supporting her husband for the past two years to ensure that he was returned to the WWE Universe, which is exactly where he belongs.

8 Daniel And Brie Are Obsessed With Only Shopping Locally

Total Bellas and Total Divas have shown over the past few years that Brie and Daniel are a couple of habit. Unlike her sister Nikki and John Cena when they decide to go all out on date night, Brie and Daniel enjoy dining locally. The couple will only go to restaurants that are in their local city because they want to help the companies grow that are around them.

They also only shop locally and they mostly buy healthy food because both stars are obsessed with eating healthy and being eco-friendly. Nikki explained that Brie and Daniel were brought together by the fact that they were both weird when it was actually their love of nature. The couple makes all of their decisions based on what they can do to help the environment and at one point the couple were even looking to set up a toilet in their outside shed that would turn their excrement into compost that they could then use on their garden, which is one of Bryan's more interesting ideas. It's incredible how different Brie is to her sister, but it appears that she has found someone who not only understands her quirks but shares them too.

7 WWE First Pushed The Couple Together

It could be argued that Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella wouldn't be together if it wasn't for the fact that WWE thought it was a good idea to put the couple together. Brie and Daniel were part of a lengthy storyline that also included his sister and saw the twins fight over who got to be Daniel Bryan's "first." This was a long time before the couple was actually together in real life, but it allowed both of the stars to bond over some of their stranger quirks and their friendship later became a relationship.

Brie did reveal that it was actually Daniel that asked her out on a date, but it wasn't until a few months after the storyline had come to an end. Of course, neither sister won the affections of Bryan, since he was later spotted with Gail Kim, but in reality, it was Brie that married the former World Champion just four years after the company decided that it would be a good idea for them to work together. Brie and Daniel are the latest in a long line of couples that also include Miz and Maryse, that WWE pushed together only for them to later became a real-life couple.

6 Daniel Wants All His Children To Have Names Beginning With B

Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella have already welcomed their first child, a daughter who was born last year called Birdie Joe but s soon on an episode of Total Bellas, it took the couple a while to agree on the fact that she would be called Birdie. One thing that not many people have noticed about the family is that they all now have the initials B.D. which could be why Bryan wants all of his children to go on to have the same initials.

Brie told People Magazine that it was her husband's idea to find a name that began with a B because he felt the need to follow his family tradition. “My husband’s only request was that we name all of our children with B names. His whole family is B’s and I’m a B, so he really wanted our kids to be B’s. Brie is looking at returning to the ring right now, so it appears that there could be a delay in the couple adding to their child count, but it is now known that when they do add to their happy brood then they have to think of more names that begin with B.

5 Daniel Bryan Lived For Many Years Without A TV

One of the strangest facts about the couple is that Brie actually forced Daniel to buy a TV. The former World Champion wasn't raised to watch TV all the time like the current generation and is reported to have gone a number of years without ever turning a TV on before he met Brie. This means that even though Bryan is on TV on a regular basis, he rarely ever actually watches it. The bearded superstar prefers not to watch Total Divas or Total Bellas, which is perhaps because he doesn't like to watch himself, although he does turn into Youtube to watch back some of his matches.

Bryan and Brie are definitely one of the company's strangest pairings because of the way they decided to live within their means despite having the money to be able to do what they want. Birdie will be raised in the same way as her parents that even though all of her family are famous and she's already a star, it's likely that she will be taught about the finer things in life, the ones that money can't buy and these are the things that Brie and Daniel are the perfect people to teach her all about this.

4 The Couple Have Plans For Another Child

Birdie Joe has only recently turned one year old and Bryan has been able to return to the ring full-time after being cleared by WWE, but despite the changes in the couple's lives over the past year, there are still plans to have at least one more child. Brie revealed that she and Bryan want a son so that he can continue Bryan's father's name and when Birdie was born they decided that they would try for a son in the future.

Brie had a rough birth with Birdie.

And in the most recent series of Total Bellas, which is more than a year after Bridie was born, she is still showing the effects of what was a 21-hour labor followed by an emergency C-Section. Brie herself stated that the birth was different to what she thought it was going to be, which could be at the back of her mind if she and Daniel had the conversation of adding to their happy brood. Brie also has aspirations to return to the ring alongside her sister in the near future so they can play a role in the Women's Tag Team Championship unveil, so don't expect the duo to be announcing a second pregnancy any time soon.

3 Daniel Was The Reason Brie Had The Biggest Match Of Her Career

The biggest match that Brie has ever had in her wrestling career was back at SummerSlam 2014 when she took on Stephanie McMahon after months of animosity between the two women. This was a match that then opened the door to a feud between Nikki and Brie, but it was a match that came about because of Daniel Bryan. Back in 2014, Bryan's injuries were starting to wear him down and it was causing issues with the grip in his hands. Bryan was World Champion at the time but was unable to continue his feud with Triple H because of his injuries, which meant that the wives of the stars had to step in instead.

It's easy to believe that if Bryan was never struck down with injuries after his WrestleMania win, then Brie would never have been able to step into the spotlight, main event an episode of Monday Night Raw and go on to have a match against the daughter of the WWE Chairman and the wife of the COO. Brie stepped in because Bryan was unable to fight his battles, which is exactly what wives should do and even though the payoff to this storyline was voted the worst feud of the year, it was great to see Brie showcased.

2 Brie Wore Bryan's WrestleMania Kickpads For Luck

When Daniel Bryan was forced to retire from the ring prematurely back in 2016, WWE then saw that the WWE Universe had started to back Brie Bella and allowed her to then moved into a prominent position in the Divas Championship picture, since she was using more of her husbands moves in the ring. Just weeks after his announcement, Brie had the opportunity to face Charlotte at Fastlane for the Divas Championship and Brie decided that she was going to honor her husband throughout the match as well.

One of the things that got the biggest pop of the night was the fact that Brie decided to wear Daniel Bryan's WrestleMania 30 kick pads for the match in the hopes that they had some magic left in them. Brie came up short in the match, but since she decided to retire from WWE just a month later at WrestleMania, it could be argued that Brie already knew that she was going to retire at that point. It was something that definitely got the WWE Universe behind her and even though she didn't win, she put up a great fight and proved that her husband's spirit was still in that squared circle.

1 The Couple Never Actually Announced That They Were Together

Couples in WWE right now feel the need to announce that they are in a relationship and it's something that makes all of the dirt sheets for days afterward, but back in 2011, the process was a little different. Daniel Bryan and Brie weren't revealed to be in a relationship until Total Divas began filming back in 2012 and at that point, the couple had already been together for more than a year but they had been able to skate under the radar.

Bryan revealed that following their on-screen kiss back in November 2010, there were three and a half months before he and Brie shared their first real kiss in February 2011. Brie then left the company the following year, but their relationship continued and the couple then became part of Total Divas along with Nikki and Cena. Many fans weren't aware that the couple has been together now for more than seven years because they were very private about their relationship in the beginning and decided not to announce it to the world. Since Twitter wasn't a big thing back in 2010, it is understandable that the couple didn't feel the need to share their personal life with their fans.