Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino faced some hardships during his time on the original version of MTV’s Jersey Shore.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 41-year-old discussed his previous drug addictions which led to a brief downward spiral before Sorrentino was able to recover. The reality show star goes in-depth about his experiences in his new memoir, Reality Check: Making the Best of The Situation – How I Overcame Addiction, Loss, and Prison, which will be released on Dec. 19.
At one point of the interview, Sorrentino says that he began spending at least $500,000 on his “reckless” drug addiction, which mainly took place while filming Jersey Shore, which aired from 2009 to 2012. “I did spend about half a million dollars on cocaine and oxycodone,” he told ET. “I was wild. I was careless. I was reckless, and I fell prey to drug addiction.”
Sorrentino’s addiction to drugs like cocaine, weed, Valium, and Xanax were commonplace in his day-to-day life. “I was into everything. I had everything on me at all times in my Louis Vuitton bag. Everything,” he said. “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.”
Sorrentino admitted that his drug dependency began before the inaugural season of Jersey Shore, but worsened as the show headed towards its conclusion. In a season four episode, Sorrentino slammed his head into a wall during a fight with cast member Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, which he blames on “withdrawals.”