Reality TV star Nicole Snooki Polizzi formed a quick and tight bond with her Jersey Shore family. But Mike Sorrentino once accidentally caused a rift between himself and his co-star that he might’ve thought was irreparable.
Mike Sorrentino’s drug-use ended his friendship with Snooki
Sorrentino famously had severe substance abuse problems that interfered in both his professional and personal life. The actor reflected how he always had drugs on him in his younger years, spending $500,000 on his self-destructive habit.
“When you think of that number, when you hear that number, that’s a good college fund right there,” he once told Entertainment Weekly. “I gotta just be accountable and be like, ‘Yeah, that happened.’ I was wild. I was careless. I was reckless, and I fell prey to drug addiction, and in the book I describe that I did spend about half a million dollars on cocaine and oxycodone.”
His drug addiction also meant that his castmate Snooki had to deal with her Shore roommate at his worst. But after his first stint in rehab, a more enlightened Sorrentino wished he could take back his behavior towards Snooki.
“She had my back and I had her back too,” Sorrentino said in a 2012 interview with MTV News. “We were close for a long time. … I am going to say that I am upset that we’re not as close as we are today. I care about the girl, for sure.”
Sorrentino considered their broken relationship one of the few regrets that he had in his life.
“Hurting her feelings,” he said. “I would never want to hurt that girl’s feelings. That girl is very special to me. If I could turn back the clock, which I always say that I have no regrets … definitely hurting her feelings … and our friendship.”
Snooki believes Mike Sorrentino experienced the most growth after ‘Jersey Shore’
Some of the cast of the Jersey Shore went in different directions after the original reality series came to its conclusion. Snooki stayed in touch with her roots and starred in a couple of Jersey Shore spin-offs over the years. She reunited with her fellow Jersey Shore castmates in the spin-off Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.
Snooki asserted in an interview with Today that she always kept in touch with her Shore family outside of the show. But given how busy their individual lives became, it was increasingly difficult to see each other in person.
“We talk every single day in group chat. There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that we’re not talking in that chat, which is nice. But it’s definitely hard to see each other. I’m like an hour and a half away from Deena [Buckner], Jenny [Farley] and Angelina. I’m more up north [in New Jersey] and they’re all down south,” Snooki said. “I’m always traveling, doing my own thing or with the kids, so it’s really hard to get together. That’s why we love our trips, because we have that time together. [We’re] definitely family and I think it’ll always be that way.”
She was able to spend more time with her co-stars on Family Vacation, where she noted how much the group matured over the years. But she felt Sorrentino experienced the most change.
“Back in the day, Mike was on drugs and like the worst person ever. Having to deal with that, it was just a lot for all of us,” she said. [Now] he’s almost seven years sober, he’s a great dad and he’s a good friend to us all.”
Still, Snooki also confided that when she reunites with the group, it feels just like old times.
“It’s crazy how we’ve all changed. We’ve all grown up, but when we all get back together and we don’t have our kids and we’re doing a fun adults night out, it just feels like we’re all 21 again,” she said.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLTEmqusoJWawW%2BvzqZmnqakmr%2B1rcinpJ6mpGS6qrfEZqqoqqKau7W1zaiqZmldp7KovsStZKutmaO2r7OMq5ylmaSevK%2B%2Fx6KnZqaZmLytsYyspainm556sbvLorGzoV6dwa64jg%3D%3D