Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi Shares ‘Scary’ Cancer Treatment Details

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi will be undergoing a hysterectomy after being diagnosed with Stage 1 cervical cancer.

The Jersey Shore star, 38, opened up about the “scary” procedure to PEOPLE on Thursday, two months after receiving her diagnosis following years of abnormal Pap smears.

“I was scared,” said Polizzi, 38, who is mother to sons Lorenzo, 13, and Angelo, 6, and daughter Giovanna, 11, with husband Jionni LaValle. “But you know what? It’s not the worst case and I can still deal with it,” she says. “I’m gonna be fine.”

Despite doctors’ reassurance that she won’t require additional treatment following her hysterectomy, Polizzi said she’s still nervous about the procedure itself.

“I’m not great with pain, so thinking about removing an organ is scary,” she shared. “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.”

Polizzi also encouraged women to be proactive when it comes to their health, revealing that despite being encouraged to undergo cancer screenings every six months due to her abnormal Pap results, she “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,” the MTV personality admitted, “but instead of dealing with it, I just pretended it wasn’t happening.”

It was only after her doctor pressed her to return throughout 2025 that Polizzi finally went back. “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 recalled, revealing that doctors then found “a ton” of precancerous cells in her subsequent test.

Further testing, which included a colposcopy and cone biopsy, located “severe cancer cells” that were likely to spread if not removed.

“I feel like nobody talks about cervical cancer,” she said. “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.”

Since her diagnosis, Polizzi said her family and friends have been “rallying around” her. “The best part about everything is realizing how many people care,” she said. “I have a ton of people that are here for me, and they love me.”