Jersey Shore star reveals cervical cancer diagnosis

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi says she is likely to have a hysterectomy

Reality TV personality Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has revealed she has been diagnosed with stage one cervical cancer.

The former star of MTV's Jersey Shore shared the news in a TikTok video on Friday, explaining that a biopsy had confirmed the diagnosis.

Speaking from her car between medical appointments, Polizzi expressed a mix of emotions.

“Obviously not the news that I was hoping for,” she said, “but also not the worst news, just because they caught it so early, thank freaking God.”

She used the opportunity to encourage her followers to undergo regular Pap smears, which can detect abnormal cells in the cervix before they become cancerous.

She added that she anticipates needing a hysterectomy following a PET scan, which will determine whether the cancer has spread further.

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi attends the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards in LA (Getty Images)

“I’m 38 years old and I’ve been struggling with abnormal Pap smears for three or four years now, and now look at me,” she said.

“Instead of putting it off because I didn’t want to go, because I was hurt and scared, I just went and did it. And it was there, cancer is in there but it’s Stage 1 and it’s curable.”

She remarked that “2026 is not panning out how I wanted it to”.

However, she added: “But also, it could be worse.”

Polizzi, 38, rose to fame with the debut of Jersey Shore in 2009, appearing in six seasons and subsequent spin-offs like Snooki & JWoww and Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

She still lives in New Jersey with her husband of 11 years and their three children.

A diagnosis of stage one cervical cancer means that the cancer is within the neck of the womb (cervix) and has not spread to nearby tissues or other organs, according to Cancer Research UK.

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The main treatments are surgery and combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy.