Ronnie Ortiz-Magro says he’s not to blame for Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola’s absence from Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
Ortiz-Magro, 32, chatted with Us Weekly at the Los Angeles premiere for the MTV reboot on Thursday, March 29, and dished on how he felt when he found out his ex — whom he famously dated and fought with during the original show from 2009 to 2012 — wasn’t coming back for the reboot.
“We started this all together and I would have loved to have finished it together because now everyone thinks it’s because of me she didn’t come back, but it’s because she has a boyfriend,” he told Us, noting that it’s “their decision.”
Meanwhile, a source told Us that Giancola’s decision to stay away from the show is “nothing very dramatic,” but that “she really didn’t want to return because of her new relationship.”
The source added: “She is super happy with him and she didn’t want to do the show mainly because of Ronnie. She didn’t want the drama, the reliving of the relationship … It would of been a big problem for her new relationship if there were any drama with Ronnie, and her new guy is more important to her than the show.”
Giancola, 31, took to Instagram on Friday, March 30, to address fans and elaborate on her decision. “I am at a completely different place in my life right now, focusing on my businesses and relationship,” she wrote.
She continued, “I am not the same person I was when I was 22,” adding that she’s “extremely happy in every aspect of her life.” She also noted that her main reason for not participating in Jersey Shore: Family Vacation is to “avoid potentially toxic situations.”
However, just because Giancola didn’t rejoin the cast, Ortiz-Magro says they’ll always be bonded by their time at the shore, and that he would be ok with her coming back for the second season of the show.
“No matter what, she’s always going to be … [as] you’ll see in this season I say, ‘Sam will always be a part of my life, but she doesn’t have to be a part of my life.’ No matter what, this will always be on the television show, [in] interviews, Sam will always be brought up,” he explained to Us. “So she’ll be a part of my life, but she doesn’t have to be standing next to me to be a part of my life.”
Jersey Shore: Family Vacation premieres on MTV Thursday, April 5, at 8 p.m. ET.
Reporting by Taylor Ferber
