Jersey Shore personality Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi has shared details of a frightening health scare, revealing she was diagnosed with Stage 1 cervical cancer after delaying routine Pap smear appointments.
Now 38, Polizzi said she skipped her regular screenings for more than a year, despite previously receiving multiple test results that showed pre-cancerous cells.
Those earlier findings were “nothing crazy,” she told PEOPLE, but her doctor still advised she return every six months during the four-year period in which abnormalities kept appearing.
Over time, though, the exams began to feel increasingly unpleasant, and she eventually stopped attending—going roughly 18 months without being checked for potentially serious changes.
“I 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,” she admitted, “but instead of dealing with it, I just pretended it wasn’t happening.”
When she finally went back for another test, she said the outcome was far more alarming than she expected.
“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 said.
After that appointment, Polizzi was diagnosed with cervical cancer, which doctors believed could spread without treatment.
“I had a breakdown,” she recalled. “I got to my car and I called my mom hysterically crying, thinking the worst.”
Despite the delay, she said her diagnosis is treatable. The reality star—also a mother of three—plans to have a hysterectomy in the coming months.
“I’m not great with pain, so thinking about removing an organ is scary,” she admits. “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.”
As she navigates treatment, Polizzi has also leaned on her online community, saying she struggled to find someone in her day-to-day life who had been through the same experience with cervical cancer.
“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 explained.
She added that one unexpected positive has been a closer connection with her doctor, and a shift away from putting off check-ups.
“I talk to my doctor all the time now. I wanna be healthier,” she adds. “I’m just trying to be the best version of myself because I’m getting older and I wanna age gracefully.”
By speaking publicly, Polizzi hopes other women take cervical screening more seriously and don’t postpone appointments that could catch problems early.
“I feel like nobody talks about cervical cancer,” she concluded. “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.”