Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi Says Son Was ‘Scarred’ When She Left for ‘Jersey Shore’

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is revealing just how much of an effect filming Jersey Shore Family Vacation had on her children and family before she announced in December she was “retiring” from the MTV series. Speaking to Us Weekly, Polizzi said her having to leave children Lorenzo, 7, Giovanna, 5, and Angelo, 7 months, for weeks on end was causing some serious emotional distress for her oldest.

“My son is 7. So when we came back from Miami, I was gone for two weeks, then I came home for a night and then left for another two weeks. That literally scarred him,” Polizzi told the outlet. “So anytime I say, ‘Mommy’s going to work,’ he’s like, ‘Mom, you cannot leave me again like you did. I was so upset. I don’t want you leaving.’ So now every time I say I’m leaving for work, he goes, ‘How long are you leaving?’ It kind of gives him anxiety now. I can’t do that anymore. They are definitely happy that I’m not going to be leaving for days on end now.”

The choice to leave the show that first put her in the public eye was “definitely a hard decision,” Polizzi said during her announcement that she was leaving the show on her podcast, It’s Happening With Snooki and Joey, in December.

“You guys, I love you so much and don’t hate me for my decision,” she said. “But I have to do what’s best for me at the moment. I am retiring from Jersey Shore.”

“I am not coming back to Jersey Shore for Season 4 if there is one. And there’s a lot of reasons why, but the main reason is… I just can’t do it anymore,” she continued. “Literally, leaving my kids to film it is really hard on me. I try and quit every single day. I just hate being away from the kids. I don’t like partying three days in a row. It’s just not my life anymore. I want to be home with the kid. It’s just really hard for me to leave the kids and film the show.”

Tension between the cast members, especially Angelina Pivarnick, also appears to play a part.

“Our show, Jersey Shore, is about family and making fun of each other and having a good time and laughing and just knowing that it’s all in good fun. Lately, everything is so serious,” she admitted. “It’s not about a team anymore. Fans are against one another when it comes to a cast member. I don’t want that. I’m not leaving my kids for days on end to film this show when that’s the result of it. I don’t like the turnout of it. I don’t like the person I’m portrayed as. It’s getting to be a little too much.”

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