“Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has revealed she will be undergoing a hysterectomy after she was diagnosed with Stage 1 cervical cancer.
The 38-year-old, who rose to fame in the MTV reality series, told People magazine that doctors discovered the disease during a routine pap smear in February, admitting that the diagnosis almost drove her to a “breakdown.”
“I had a breakdown. I got to my car and I called my mom hysterically crying, thinking the worst,” Snooki, who has three children, admitted.
However, after further testing, doctors confirmed that the cancer had not spread—and recommended that she undergo a hysterectomy to prevent the disease from progressing.
“I was scared. But you know what? It’s not the worst case and I can still deal with it. I’m gonna be fine,” the “Jersey Shore” alum told the outlet.
Snooki further confessed that her pap smear results had come back abnormal for many months, however, she had been putting off returning to the gynecologist.
She issued a warning to others to learn from her mistakes, noting that avoiding a problem out of fear is never going to make that issue disappear.
“I ended up not going for like a year and a half because it’s uncomfortable, it’s not fun. I knew something bad could happen, but instead of dealing with it, I just pretended it wasn’t happening,” the TV star admitted.
“My doctor was leaving me a voicemail screaming at me like, ‘You need to get in here. This is serious. You don’t want it to escalate.’ That’s when I finally went in,” she added.
When she went in, doctors found “a ton” of precancerous cells and further testing confirmed “severe cancer cells” were present.
Snooki, who shares children Lorenzo, 13, Angelo, 6, and Giovanna, 11, with husband Jionni LaValle, admits that telling her kids was one of the hardest parts.
“My two oldest were like, ‘Are you dying?’ Because they know what cancer is, it scared them a little bit,” she said. “But I was reassuring them like, ‘No, mommy’s gonna be fine.’”
The former TV star revealed that her family and friends have been a huge part of her journey, adding that they have been “rallying around me, because they knew I was freaking out…” She explained that “the best part” of going through a cancer diagnosis is learning how many people she has in her life who care about her.
She also confessed that reading her fans’ comments and messages of support has helped her realize she’s not alone.
“I don’t know anyone personally that has gone through this. So being able to read people’s comments definitely helped me to just know that I’m not alone and everything’s gonna be fine,” she said.
However, she admitted that she is still worried about her upcoming surgery, largely because she is “not great with pain.”
She confessed, “I’m not great with pain, so thinking about removing an organ is scary. That’s a part of being a woman and even though I’m done having kids, the thought of not being able to really upset me. It messes with you a little bit.”
Snooki revealed that she has been trying to “stay on top of everything,” in a bid to be healthier, explaining that she regularly checks in with her doctor to track her health—and ensure that she is able to “age gracefully.”
The reality TV alum also noted that she wants other people to learn from her and always get their pap smears.
“I feel like nobody talks about cervical cancer. The main point of me talking about this is for girls to get on their s–t and not do what I did. … This is very preventable,” she said.
Snooki will be recovering from her surgery at her sprawling Florham Park, NJ, home, which she and LaValle purchased for $2.6 million in 2014, the same year they tied the knot.
The property, which was custom built and occupies two adjacent parcels of land, sprawls across 9,300 square feet and comes complete with five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
In 2021, Snooki opened the doors to her home in MTV’s “Cribs” series.
The home boasts a large bathroom with black and white floors as well as a soaking tub and walk-in closet.
During the tour, Snooki also showed off one of the many bedrooms, which boasted a leopard print design.
The TV star also holds the keys to a five-bedroom property in Toms River, NJ, which she snapped up for $850,000 and boasts a boat dock, pool, and a waterslide.
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