Jersey Shore viewers knew Mike “the Situation” Sorrentino‘s life was out of control. That was his role on MTV’s megahit reality show, which saw him partying and hooking up around his gym-tan-laundry schedule. Just how off the rails things became is eye-opening.
In his new memoir, Reality Check: Making the Best of the Situation, the reality star relives his darkest moments of opioid addiction, hitting rock bottom in his locked bathroom, using heroin because he couldn’t score Roxicet or Percocet and he was desperate. He writes about dealing drugs, blowing all his money and going to prison for tax evasion. Now on the other side, eight years sober this month, “My drug is #growth,” the newly minted author tells Yahoo Entertainment.
“Most people don’t make it out of that life of excess. Some people die or they fade away really quickly. So I thought it was important to speak about the excess — of the drugs and the women and the fame and the millions. Most people don’t escape and get to the other side. The other side is family life,” says 41-year-old Sorrentino, who’s expecting his third child with his wife, Lauren, in March. “I’m very lucky.”
‘I could have died right there’
“This book is definitely a page-turner,” he promises. “I believe it’s going to surprise readers and fans and the public. It’s informative. It’s entertaining. It’s funny. Most importantly, I think it’s going to inspire people who have come across obstacles in their life. The sentiment in this book is to never give up. People who are suffering from the disease of addiction are going to see how I recovered — the mindset, what I did — and I believe they’ll be inspired.”
Sorrentino’s troubles began before he ever showed off his six-pack abs in Seaside Heights, N.J. The Staten Island, N.Y.-born TV star had not only sold drugs, he had been to rehab to treat his pill addiction prior to Jersey Shore, which ran from 2009 to 2012 and catapulted him to stardom.
On the show, partying was his storyline. He leaned in, building a successful brand from it — one that earned him $5 million in 2010, rivaling Kim Kardashian’s income that year. But the fist pumping and shots at clubs that viewers saw were only part of the production.
Behind the scenes, Sorrentino had a second job securing enough pills to feed his addiction while shooting. His book details escapes from the watchful MTV production team to get his fix. He emptied herbal fat burner capsules, refilling them with crushed pill powder, to have a stash at the MTV house. When traveling abroad for the show, he smuggled hundreds of pills in Altoids tins hidden in his sneaker soles. He says having the right amount of pills on hand to feed a growing addition was an imperfect science. When he rammed his head into a concrete wall while shooting Jersey Shore in Italy, he was actually experiencing withdrawal.
Off the clock from MTV, he traveled everywhere with a Louis Vuitton bag doubling as a “dispensary,” holding his drugs of choice, including Xanax, Valium, Adderall and cocaine. He’d show up high for late-night appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon, not to mention his season of Dancing With the Stars. He estimates he spent $500,000 on drugs. He also went to rehab two more times.
It was after the show ended that he hit rock bottom. He was broke (he had also overspent on luxury cars), unemployed, behind on rent, depressed and the target of a federal investigation into his finances (which he spent $1 million in legal fees defending). Facing withdrawal, he took heroin for the first time because it was the only drug he was able to get.
“I always said I wouldn’t do it,” he says of the drug. “You always hear stories of people overdosing. In my brain, I was thinking: Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I was getting paid almost $200,000 per episode on the biggest reality television show in the country, getting 9 million viewers, and now I have a bundle of heroin in my possession.”
Locked in the bathroom of the home he shared with then-girlfriend Lauren, he told himself, “‘I’m only going to try a little because people usually overdose. Maybe if I just have a little bit, I’ll be OK.’ But right then and there — I’m putting my life on the line. In hindsight, I could have overdosed. I could have died right there.” But he didn’t, so he kept going — even though he didn’t like it. “There was a little devil on my shoulder saying, ‘If you try a little bit more you might like it.’”
That’s when Sorrentino, who becomes emotional retelling the story, believes “wholeheartedly that God stepped in.” In one hand, he had the heroin. In the other, his phone — and his mother called.
“I picked up and I’m like: ‘Hello?’ She asked: ‘Are you OK?’ She had so much concern and alarm in her voice. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’” he remembers. “It was to the point where I looked around and wondered if there were hidden cameras in my home. But I think my eyes and ears were open just enough to receive this message. I feel that God used my mom in a way to stop me.”
He continues, “Then at that very moment, there was banging at the door, and it was another angel” — Lauren, who was trying to get in. “She knew I was up to no good. And at that particular point, I’m like, ‘This is a sign. I can’t do this anymore.’ I flushed the drugs down the toilet. I had a tear coming down my face because it was a very powerful, profound moment.” He went to rehab — for the fourth time — the next day.
Sorrentino didn’t tell anyone, including Lauren, that he was using heroin in the bathroom that day. He wrote in the book that Lauren would be finding out with the rest of the world.
“I’ll be honest with you, I was ashamed,” he says. “I never thought I would cross that line and stare the devil in the face. My life was on the line. But I thought it was very important that I put that in the book because I feel that story alone will save a lot of lives.”
How did Lauren react to reading it? “She was crying, but she was very proud of me” for sharing, he says. “She knows where we are in life now. She knows her husband is a champion of addiction. She knows I’m eight years clean and sober. My biggest flex is being a sober dad. She knows how loyal and dedicated I am to our family. So she understood how important it was to tell this story and not hold anything back.”
‘Guess who’s not waking up with a hangover? Me.’
Considering the depth of his addiction, it seemed almost dangerous that he reunited with his MTV castmates — including Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Pauly “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio and Vinny Guadagnino — for Jersey Shore: Family Vacation when it first aired in 2018.
“I was worried,” he says. “I was going back into the lion’s den. But I was a little over two years sober and had a really good foundation. When I received that contract, I did have concerns if I’m being truthful, but I realized that my life isn’t cookie-cutter. When they wrote the 12 steps in Alcoholics Anonymous and NA, there was no such thing as a reality star. I felt I had to break the mold. I had to take the 12 steps and the ‘Serenity Prayer’ and make it my own.”
He searched deep inside for a new version of himself — one that was sober and could support his family, especially amid his tax-dodging conviction, which netted an eight-month prison sentence.
“I said, ‘Challenge accepted.’ So I went back to Jersey Shore and was drinking Red Bulls and Diet Cokes and having chicken [nuggets] at the club,” he says. “I found this new version of myself in real time while the world was watching — and it was actually a beautiful version of me. I was more fun and funny. I was more vulnerable. And I felt that people watching were able to relate to someone just trying to do right and to do better for themselves. And I didn’t need to drink anymore. I didn’t need to do drugs anymore. I had that light inside of me.”
He continues, “Now, years later, I’m at the club, in the bar, at a party — wherever I’m at — and you got to catch up to me. My light, my energy, my conversation is exquisite. The stories I got. And then the next morning, guess who’s not waking up with a hangover? Me. I’m at the gym. I’m a sober, mindful dad. My drug is #growth. I want to achieve in life. I want to become a better version of myself. So those are my drugs.”
Being the best version of himself means in all facets of his life, including his finances. Is that all behind him?
“I’m happy to say that ‘the Situation’ is current on taxes, past and present,” he says. “My wife and I are on top of those quarterly payments and … our financial house [is in order].” The family plans to take a nice vacation every year versus “me getting seven luxury cars like I did when I was a younger man. I literally had in my driveway a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, a Porsche and [a BMW] M5. Those are the pitfalls of being a young man who was inexperienced and immature and maybe even some ignorance in there as well.”
Jersey Shore continues
Sorrentino, who writes about the close friendships he has with the cast outside the show, hopes Jersey Shore: Family Vacation continues “definitely a couple more years.”
“[The franchise has] been going strong now for 15 years,” he says. “Technically, right now, Jersey Shore is the No. 1 show on Thursday night for MTV — and sometimes on cable entirely.” The show has been renewed for a seventh season.
“It was lightning in a bottle” when it began and “the staying power of Jersey Shore is just phenomenal,” Sorrentino says. “I don’t know if there will ever be a show like it. It’s just something that you don’t see every day: turning 15 minutes of fame into 15 years. And I’m proud that the story continues.”
Would he let his own kids — Romeo Reign, 2, Mia Bella, nearly 1, and the baby joining them next year — follow his path to reality TV stardom?
“I definitely would try to support them in anything they do,” he says. “But It would be many conversations [about] the positives and negatives. Do they know the pitfalls? But there is a possibility that my kids would want to be in entertainment. Their dad is a reality legend. It’s possible that they would want to be on TV.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Treatment Referral Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357).
Reality Check: Making the Best of the Situation goes on sale Tuesday, Dec. 19.
