Enough is enough. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi recalled the moment that led her to retire from Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
“I think when I was, like, actually forcing myself to be in a situation that I wasn’t happy in. Like, I was forcing myself to be ‘happy,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s not me.’ I’m not genuinely happy,” the reality star, 32, said in a clip from her January 2020 appearance on The Mel Robbins Show. “That’s when I’m like, ‘I’m out.’”
However, Polizzi pointed out the decision still was not easy. “It was really hard, but I had to think about my happiness and where I really wanted myself to be, and it’s being a mom and being [with my] kids and not drama and drinking … and drama,” she explained.
The TV personality shocked fans earlier this month when she announced her exit. “I am not coming back to Jersey Shore [Family Vacation] for a season 4, if there is one,” she said during the Friday, December 6, episode of her “It’s Happening With Snooki & Joey” podcast. “There’s a lot of reasons why, but the main reason is really … I’m just like, I just can’t do it anymore.”
Polizzi noted at the time that she hates being away from son Lorenzo, 7, daughter Giovanna, 5, and son Angelo, 6 months. “You know, when I leave my kids and I film the show, like, I want to have a good time,” she admitted. “And I’m putting myself out there, and I just wanna come off as a good person. And lately, on the show, it’s just been very drama.”
The Chile native confessed to Us Weekly in September that she was “still trying to figure” out how to juggle work and family. “They’re very stressed out,” she revealed. “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.”
According to a source, the MTV star “did not tell all her Jersey Shore castmates that she was retiring before she made the announcement. It came as a surprise to more than one of them.”
Polizzi’s episode of The Mel Robbins Show will air on Friday, January 10, 2020.
