Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is living his best life these days — and that includes being sober.
But it’s not like Sorrentino is never tempted, and where he’s tempted might surprise fans of “Jersey Shore Family Vacation.”
“The only time I’m tempted is when I’m filming ‘Jersey Shore,’ ” said Sorrentino to Entertainment Tonight at a “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” press event in August. “Sometimes when I’m dealing with the cast, those types of situations, it’s not easy, and I’m also trying to entertain millions.
“So it’s a very fine line I have to walk and sometimes …”
Sorrentino was addicted to opioids during the initial run of “Jersey Shore” from 2009 to 2012, and he spent $500,000 on them. He thought the drugs aided his performance. Alcohol is readily consumed on the show.
“My life was going by so quickly that, at the time, I made a mistake and I thought it was going to help my performance or my stamina, and for a little bit, I have to say, that it did,” said Sorrentino in recent interview with Entertainment Tonight from his Holmdel home. “But eventually I became dependent and I became addicted on these substances.”
The infamous incident in Italy in 2011, when he banged his head on a wall during an altercation with Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, was triggered by his lack of drugs.
“You guys saw in Italy when I ran my head into a wall,” Sorrentino said. “I was going through withdrawals at the time ’cause I had ran out of pills.”
Sorrentino tells his story in his new book “Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation — How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison,” out Tuesday, Dec. 19, from Ballast Books.
“I was a young and wild, careless kid, and once you gave kids millions of dollars and Ferraris and Lambos and girls screaming my name and yes, men, everywhere, it was hard to turn that off,” said Sorrentino, 41. “That was my problem for many years — how do you turn off the excess?
“And I think it wasn’t just my problem. Most people in our world or in the celebrity world or in the entertainment world, they have a problem turning off the excess button.”
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Sorrentino entered rehab in 2015 after a dalliance with heroin. In 2019, he served eight months in federal prison for tax fraud. The decision not to pay his taxes was made while he was high, he said.
These days, Sorrentino is back in the spotlight on “Jersey Shore Family Vacation.” He and his wife Lauren, who often appears on the show, have two children and one on the way.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected].