Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi had an emotional — and as a result, expensive – reaction to her cervical cancer diagnosis.
“I called my mom, crying, like, ‘Schedule my funeral, this is what I want,’ like, being so dramatic,” Snooki, 38, exclusively tells Us Weekly of how she processed her diagnosis while promoting the relaunch of her and Joey Camasta’s podcast, “It’s Happening with Snooki & Joey,” which premiered with podcast network The Volume and sponsor Hard Rock Bet on Wednesday, June 10.
“I was hysterical for, like, three days, and then I was like, ‘You’re a bad bitch, you’re going to be fine, you tackle everything,’” the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation star adds. “And then I went to Short Hills and spent, like, thousands of dollars. Then, after that mental breakdown, I was like, ‘Alright, let’s get this done.’”
As for what Snooki purchased? “I went to Louis [Vuitton] and got two bags, then went to Gucci and got shoes and another bag,” she shares.
Snooki first revealed her health scare in January.
“I’m scared and freaking out,” she said in a TikTok video at the time, adding that she had been “getting abnormal results” as doctors found “pre-cancer cells” in her cervix.
“I’ve been dealing with this for probably three or four years now,” she explained.
Weeks later, Snooki confirmed that she had been diagnosed with stage I cervical cancer after she underwent a biopsy.
“Obviously, not the news that I was hoping for,” she said. “But also not the worst news, just because they caught it so early.”
Snooki is planning to undergo a hysterectomy as part of her cancer treatment.
“It’s going to be in the summer, and I feel like that’s when my schedule is kind of chill, and I’m not traveling,” she tells Us. “I feel like I’m traveling so much, to Canada, doing my show every week, and then I go to Nashville, and all over the place for my store. I wanted to make sure that I had, like, two weeks to just chill, to recover, and do all that. It’s going to be happening soon. I’m definitely nervous. I’m excited just to get it done.”
Though Snooki’s family was “freaking out” when she first told them about her diagnosis, she says she has received advice from her father, who has been battling cancer for years.
“But I feel like they’re all just everybody’s there for me,” she adds. “Even my neighbors, crazy, it was crazy support, and I feel like I died because everyone just showed so much love to me. Everyone’s there for me, and they’re wishing me well, offering prayers, and wishing me a speedy recovery. I never got much positivity before, in comments, on social media. Because people can be so mean to us.”
Back in April, Snooki revealed on Good Morning America that her three children — Lorenzo, Giovanna and Angelo, whom she shares with husband Jionni LaValle — had been struggling with the news of her cancer diagnosis and kept asking if she was dying. Now, however, they feel a bit calmer about the situation, Snooki tells Us.
As for LaValle, 39, Snooki says her husband has been “there to do whatever I need” amid her cancer battle.
Snooki’s podcast partner has also supported her.
“I think the best support for Nicole is, I’ve learned, just don’t change and be weird and be yourself, because that’s the worst thing you can do,” Camasta, 47, tells Us. “Just knowing it is scary, but just being there, and that she’s gotten through all this, everything in life she’s ever had thrown at her, so she’s got this as well. Just to be there, kind of like, to say it’s OK not to be OK.”
Snooki and Camasta’s “It’s Happening” podcast first launched in 2017.
“Joey has been begging me for years to be like, ‘We gotta step up our podcast game, like, all these podcasts are coming out, and they have sets, and they have guests, and me and him are literally just … doing it on a Zoom … like, on our cell phones, or in the car, or I was wearing sunglasses,” Snooki tells Us of the decision to relaunch. “We just weren’t taking it seriously, and I think it’s because, honestly, I was so busy with my schedule, Jersey, filming and kids. I feel like now was the perfect time to step our game up because Joey’s been yelling at me for years.”
Camasta, who is Snooki’s longtime best friend, calls this venture with The Volume “a brave new world.”
“When we first started our podcast, it was audio-only. We thought we were radio show hosts. We didn’t know what it was, so we just sat there, we started reporting the news, we were trying to figure it out and make it up, but now the new world is the 21st century,” he explains. “We’re so happy to be with The Volume now.”
With their new and improved podcast, Snooki says she and Camasta are “more organized” and “professional.”
“Like, obviously we’re still going to be us, and be silly, and talk about our crazy moments, and still have a funny aspect of it, but I feel like we’re going to be more structured with like segments and fan call-ins and celeb gossip,” she explains. “We have a list of what we’re going to do, instead of just, like, shooting it.”
