Mike ‘the Scenario’ Sorrentino on the ‘highly effective, profound second’ he realized he needed to get sober for good

Jersey Shore viewers knew Mike “the Situation” Sorrentino‘s life was uncontrolled. That was his function on MTV’s megahit actuality present, which noticed him partying and hooking up round his gym-tan-laundry schedule. Simply how off the rails issues grew to become is eye-opening.

In his new memoir, Actuality Examine: Making the Better of the Scenario, the fact star relives his darkest moments of opioid dependancy, hitting all-time low in his locked lavatory, utilizing heroin as a result of he could not rating Roxicet or Percocet and he was determined. He writes about dealing medication, blowing all his cash and going to jail for tax evasion. Now on the opposite facet, eight years sober this month, “My drug is #development,” the newly minted writer tells Yahoo Leisure.

“Most individuals do not make it out of that lifetime of extra. Some folks die or they fade away actually rapidly. So I assumed it was necessary to discuss the surplus — of the medication and the ladies and the celebrity and the thousands and thousands. Most individuals do not escape and get to the opposite facet. The opposite facet is household life,” says 41-year-old Sorrentino, who’s expecting his third child together with his spouse, Lauren, in March. “I am very fortunate.”

‘I might have died proper there’

“This guide is unquestionably a page-turner,” he guarantees. “I consider it’ll shock readers and followers and the general public. It is informative. It is entertaining. It is humorous. Most significantly, I believe it’ll encourage individuals who have come throughout obstacles of their life. The sentiment on this guide is to by no means surrender. People who find themselves affected by the illness of dependancy are going to see how I recovered — the mindset, what I did — and I consider they’re going to be impressed.”

Sorrentino’s troubles started earlier than he ever confirmed off his six-pack abs in Seaside Heights, N.J. The Staten Island, N.Y.-born TV star had not solely bought medication, he had been to rehab to deal with his tablet dependancy previous to Jersey Shore, which ran from 2009 to 2012 and catapulted him to stardom.

On the present, partying was his storyline. He leaned in, constructing a profitable model from it — one which earned him $5 million in 2010, rivaling Kim Kardashian’s income that yr. However the fist pumping and photographs at golf equipment that viewers noticed have been solely a part of the manufacturing.

Behind the scenes, Sorrentino had a second job securing sufficient capsules to feed his dependancy whereas taking pictures. His guide particulars escapes from the watchful MTV manufacturing crew to get his repair. He emptied natural fats burner capsules, refilling them with crushed tablet powder, to have a stash on the MTV home. When touring overseas for the present, he smuggled a whole lot of capsules in Altoids tins hidden in his sneaker soles. He says having the correct amount of capsules readily available to feed a rising addition was an imperfect science. When he rammed his head into a concrete wall whereas taking pictures Jersey Shore in Italy, he was truly experiencing withdrawal.

Off the clock from MTV, he traveled all over the place with a Louis Vuitton bag doubling as a “dispensary,” holding his medication of selection, together with Xanax, Valium, Adderall and cocaine. He’d present up excessive for late-night appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon, to not point out his season of Dancing With the Stars. He estimates he spent $500,000 on drugs. He additionally went to rehab two extra occasions.

It was after the present ended that he hit all-time low. He was broke (he had additionally overspent on luxurious automobiles), unemployed, behind on hire, depressed and the goal of a federal investigation into his funds (which he spent $1 million in authorized charges defending). Dealing with withdrawal, he took heroin for the primary time as a result of it was the one drug he was in a position to get.

“I at all times stated I would not do it,” he says of the drug. “You at all times hear tales of individuals overdosing. In my mind, I used to be pondering: Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I used to be getting paid virtually $200,000 per episode on the largest actuality tv present within the nation, getting 9 million viewers, and now I’ve a bundle of heroin in my possession.”

Locked within the lavatory of the house he shared with then-girlfriend Lauren, he advised himself, “‘I am solely going to attempt slightly as a result of folks often overdose. Possibly if I simply have slightly bit, I will be OK.’ However proper then and there — I am placing my life on the road. In hindsight, I might have overdosed. I might have died proper there.” However he did not, so he saved going — although he did not prefer it. “There was slightly satan on my shoulder saying, ‘For those who attempt slightly bit extra you may prefer it.’”

That is when Sorrentino, who turns into emotional retelling the story, believes “wholeheartedly that God stepped in.” In a single hand, he had the heroin. Within the different, his cellphone — and his mom referred to as.

“I picked up and I am like: ‘Hey?’ She requested: ‘Are you OK?’ She had a lot concern and alarm in her voice. ‘Are you positive you are OK?’” he remembers. “It was to the purpose the place I appeared round and puzzled if there have been hidden cameras in my residence. However I believe my eyes and ears have been open simply sufficient to obtain this message. I really feel that God used my mother in a solution to cease me.”

He continues, “Then at that very second, there was banging on the door, and it was one other angel” — Lauren, who was making an attempt to get in. “She knew I used to be as much as no good. And at that specific level, I am like, ‘It is a signal. I can not do that anymore.’ I flushed the medication down the bathroom. I had a tear coming down my face as a result of it was a really highly effective, profound second.” He went to rehab — for the fourth time — the subsequent day.

Sorrentino did not inform anybody, together with Lauren, that he was utilizing heroin within the lavatory that day. He wrote within the guide that Lauren can be discovering out with the remainder of the world.

“I will be sincere with you, I used to be ashamed,” he says. “I by no means thought I’d cross that line and stare the satan within the face. My life was on the road. However I assumed it was crucial that I put that within the guide as a result of I really feel that story alone will save lots of lives.”

How did Lauren react to studying it? “She was crying, however she was very pleased with me” for sharing, he says. “She is aware of the place we’re in life now. She is aware of her husband is a champion of dependancy. She is aware of I am eight years clear and sober. My largest flex is being a sober dad. She is aware of how loyal and devoted I’m to our household. So she understood how necessary it was to inform this story and never maintain something again.”

‘Guess who’s not waking up with a hangover? Me.’

Contemplating the depth of his dependancy, it appeared virtually harmful that he reunited together with his MTV castmates — together with Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Pauly “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio and Vinny Guadagnino — for Jersey Shore: Household Trip when it first aired in 2018.

“I used to be anxious,” he says. “I used to be going again into the lion’s den. However I used to be slightly over two years sober and had a extremely good basis. After I acquired that contract, I did have issues if I am being truthful, however I spotted that my life is not cookie-cutter. After they wrote the 12 steps in Alcoholics Nameless and NA, there was no such factor as a actuality star. I felt I needed to break the mould. I needed to take the 12 steps and the ‘Serenity Prayer’ and make it my very own.”

He searched deep inside for a brand new model of himself — one which was sober and will assist his household, particularly amid his tax-dodging conviction, which netted an eight-month jail sentence.

“I stated, ‘Problem accepted.’ So I went again to Jersey Shore and was consuming Purple Bulls and Weight loss program Cokes and having hen [nuggets] on the membership,” he says. “I discovered this new model of myself in actual time whereas the world was watching — and it was truly a lovely model of me. I used to be extra enjoyable and humorous. I used to be extra susceptible. And I felt that individuals watching have been in a position to relate to somebody simply making an attempt to do proper and to do higher for themselves. And I did not have to drink anymore. I did not have to do medication anymore. I had that mild inside me.”

He continues, “Now, years later, I am on the membership, within the bar, at a celebration — wherever I am at — and you bought to catch as much as me. My mild, my vitality, my dialog is beautiful. The tales I bought. After which the subsequent morning, guess who’s not waking up with a hangover? Me. I am on the gymnasium. I am a sober, aware dad. My drug is #development. I need to obtain in life. I need to grow to be a greater model of myself. So these are my medication.”

Being one of the best model of himself means in all aspects of his life, together with his funds. Is that every one behind him?

“I am pleased to say that ‘the Scenario’ is present on taxes, previous and current,” he says. “My spouse and I are on high of these quarterly funds and … our monetary home [is in order].” The household plans to take a pleasant trip yearly versus “me getting seven luxurious automobiles like I did once I was a youthful man. I actually had in my driveway a Lamborghini, a Ferrari, a Porsche and [a BMW] M5. These are the pitfalls of being a younger man who was inexperienced and immature and perhaps even some ignorance in there as effectively.”

Jersey Shore continues

Sorrentino, who writes in regards to the shut friendships he has with the solid outdoors the present, hopes Jersey Shore: Household Trip continues “undoubtedly a pair extra years.”

“[The franchise has] been going sturdy now for 15 years,” he says. “Technically, proper now, Jersey Shore is the No. 1 show on Thursday night time for MTV — and generally on cable fully.” The present has been renewed for a seventh season.

“It was lightning in a bottle” when it started and “the endurance of Jersey Shore is simply phenomenal,” Sorrentino says. “I do not know if there’ll ever be a present prefer it. It is simply one thing that you do not see each day: turning quarter-hour of fame into 15 years. And I am proud that the story continues.”

Would he let his personal children — Romeo Reign, 2, Mia Bella, almost 1, and the infant becoming a member of them subsequent yr — comply with his path to actuality TV stardom?

“I undoubtedly would attempt to assist them in something they do,” he says. “However It might be many conversations [about] the positives and negatives. Do they know the pitfalls? However there’s a risk that my children would need to be in leisure. Their dad is a actuality legend. It is attainable that they’d need to be on TV.”

For those who or somebody you realize is fighting dependancy, contact the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration Therapy Referral Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357).

Reality Check: Making the Best of the Situation goes on sale Tuesday, Dec. 19.