Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@snooki
Topics: Reality TV, Cancer, Celebrity, Health, Parenting
Jen Thomas
Topics: Reality TV, Cancer, Celebrity, Health, Parenting
Jersey Shore star Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi has opened up following a recent shocking cancer diagnosis, and revealed how she broke the news to her family.
Snooki, 38, rose to fame thanks to her chaotic antics on the reality TV show, but now the star is trying to use her fame for good and wants to raise awareness following her diagnosis.
The mum-of-three confessed she had kept delaying her cervical smear appointment for over a year, before she finally went.
Snooki had been dreading the appointment with her results for week, and was told the bad news that she had cervical cancer.
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She told PEOPLE about that nightmare day: "I had a breakdown, I got to my car and I called my mom hysterically crying, thinking the worst.”
The reality TV star was diagnosed back in February, and has since undergone further testing which confirmed it hasn't spread, and she has been booked in for a hysterectomy.
"I was scared," she confessed, unsurprisingly, adding: "But you know what? It's not the worst case and I can still deal with it. I'm gonna be fine.”
She married Jionni LaValle in 2014, and they share three children together, Lorenzo, 13, Giovanna, 11, and Angelo, 6.
Snooki recalled how she broke the news to the children, saying the two oldest understood.
"My two oldest were like, ‘Are you dying?' Because they know what cancer is, it scared them a little bit,” she explained.
“But I was reassuring them like, ‘No, mommy's gonna be fine'" but she said other friends and family have also played their part and 'rallying around' the star because she was 'freaking out'.
"The best part about everything is realising how many people care,” she said.
She opened up about her nerves: “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.”
Her diagnosis followed years of abnormal tests results which revealed she had precancerous cells.
She said they were 'nothing crazy' but her doctor wanted her to be screened every six months, instead of every three years.
As she said she experienced discomfort during the exams, she kept putting things off, she confessed: “I ended up not going for like a year and a half because it's uncomfortable, it's not fun.”
She went into denial: “I knew something bad could happen, but instead of dealing with it, I just pretended it wasn't happening.”
It was after an angry voicemail from her doctor that she decided to take action and went in for another test.
Following her initial screening she underwent a a colposcopy and cone biopsy, which revealed the cancer cells.
As well as her friends and family, the star thanked her fans for their support and for the many comments of love she has received.
“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.