Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi announced that she is retiring from the Jersey Shore franchise and will not be appearing on the fourth season of MTV’s Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
Polizzi revealed the news on “It’s Happening With Snooki & Joey,” the podcast she cohosts with friend Joey Camasta. “There’s reasons why I’ve come to this decision,” she said about her departure from the show. “It’s definitely a hard decision.”
“OK, you guys, I love you so much, and don’t hate me for my decision, but I have to do what’s best for me at the moment, and I am retiring from Jersey Shore,” the 32-year-old now-former Jersey Shore star said. “I am not coming back to Jersey Shore [Family Vacation] for a season 4, if there is one. And there’s a lot of reasons why, but the main reason is really … I’m just like, I just can’t do it anymore.”
She revealed that she has tried to leave the show every time she films Jersey Shore, and the reality TV star explained that her three kids with husband Jionni LaValle – 7-year-old Lorenzo, 5-year-old Giovanna, and 6-month-old Angelo – played a big factor in her decision to exit the show.
“I try and quit every single day. I quit every time we film because I hate being away from the kids,” Polizzi said. “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.”
Polizzi also pointed out that Family Vacation has become too dramatic for her. “You know, when I leave my kids and I film the show, like, I want to have a good time,” she said. “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.”
“Our show, Jersey Shore, is about family, and about making fun of each other, and having a good time and laughing and just knowing that it’s all in good fun,” she continued. “And lately, it’s just like, everything is so serious. And when it comes to our show, it’s not about, like, ‘Oh, team this, team that,’ and then, you know, fans are against each other when it comes to a cast member.”
Polizzi also revealed that she and her children have been receiving “death threats,” making her experience “just a lot and not something I signed up for with this show.”
She concluded her point with: “It just now how the show works, and that’s how it’s becoming. And so for me, it’s just like, I don’t want that, and I’m not leaving my kids for days on end when that’s the result of it. I just don’t like the turnout of it, and I don’t like the person I’m portrayed as.”
“I’m not saying goodbye … I just need to move on from the show because I don’t like the direction it’s going in when it comes to the drama and the cattiness,” she added.
Polizzi starred in all six seasons of the original Jersey Shore, all four seasons of the spinoff Snooki & JWoww, and three seasons of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation – which is set to return to MTV in 2020.