Getting honest. Before Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi announced that she was “retiring” from Jersey Shore, she opened up exclusively to Us Weekly about her struggles to find a balance between shooting the MTV hit and spending time with her husband and kids.
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” the reality star, 32, told Us on set in September. “They’re very stressed. I love being here. I love being with the roomies. But at the same time, I miss my newborn, I miss my two kids. So honestly I’m still trying to find that balance.”
Polizzi and husband Jionni LaValle share three kids: Lorenzo, 7, Giovanna, 5, and Angelo, 6 months. When she announced the news that she was exiting the series on Friday, December 6, the How Far Is Tattoo Far? host admitted they were a big deciding factor.
“I hate being away from the kids,” she said during her “It’s Happening With Snooki & Joey” podcast. “I don’t like partying three days in a row. It’s just not my life anymore. And I wanna be home with the kids. You know, like, I don’t mind a here and there going to a dinner or whatever, but it’s just really hard on me to leave the kids and film the show.”‘
The Snooki & JWoww alum also pointed out that the drama has become too much.
“I want to have a good time, and I’m putting myself out there and I just want to come off as a good person,” Polizzi continued. “And lately on the show, it’s just been very [dramatic].” She later said that she was not happy with the “direction” of the show, or the viewers who have turned against certain, unnamed costars. “That’s just not how the show works, and that’s how it’s becoming. … I don’t like the person I’m being portrayed as, and this is getting [to be] a little too much.”
The Chile native starred in all six seasons of Jersey Shore, four seasons of spinoff Snooki & JWoww and three seasons of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, which returns to MTV in 2020.
With reporting by Marc Lupo
