The 'Jersey Shore' star opened up about his dark battle with addiction and road to recovery on ‘Impact x Nightline'
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is reflecting on the moment his mother and wife saved him from a heroin spiral.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive clip, the Jersey Shore: Family Vacation star, 41, spoke to ABC’s Stephanie Ramos on ‘mpact x Nightline about his difficult battle with addiction and his road to recovery.
“I was in a really bad place,” he said in the exclusive broadcast clip. “I was broke. I was unemployed. I was months behind on my rent and I was depressed. I was looking to just cop some prescription painkillers. That’s what I was looking to do. He said, ‘Don’t worry Mike, I got you. Come pick me up.’”
However, one day instead of his usual painkillers, Sorrentino came home with heroin, “something he vowed he would never do.”
“I told myself, ‘Maybe I’ll just try it.’ So I locked my door and told [wife] Lauren that I was going to sleep for the night and that I wanted to be alone. So I just took a little key bump of it and I tried it,” the reality star explained. “So then I went in for another key bump and at that very moment my phone rings. It was my mother. And my mom’s like, ‘Are you okay?’ She had a feeling. And I said, ‘I’m fine mom, why?’ She goes, ‘I feel like something’s wrong.’"
Sorrentino says his mom calling was a “come-to-God moment.”
“I took that as a message from the Almighty and I put it down. And as I hung up the phone, knock on the door — a second angel,” he recalled, getting visibly choked up. “My wife was knocking at the door. So this is a very emotional moment for me. They saved me.”
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As fans remember, Sorrentino rose to fame as a hard-partying, self-proclaimed “guido” on Jersey Shore — but by the time the original run wrapped in 2012, the New Jersey native was battling addiction to prescription painkillers after his lifestyle “practically destroyed” him.
In 2019, after four years of sobriety, Sorrentino committed to making a positive impact on others in the sober community. The reality star and his wife partnered with Banyan Treatment Centers “to spread awareness about substance abuse and the disease of addiction,” Sorrentino told PEOPLE at the time.
“Also, we want to shed light on the fact that there are positive stories out there — we do recover,” he explained. “Most importantly, the comeback is truly greater than the setback.”
Back in August, Sorrentino also told PEOPLE how proud he is of how far he’s come after celebrating his 41st birthday.
“I'll be honest with you. I'm happy to make it this far,” he said. “I was so wild in my twenties and thirties that being the family man that I am today — being eight years sober in December, a dad of two, married five years in a happy, healthy marriage — I'm killing the game.”
“I'm very grateful to make it this far,” Sorrentino added.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, please contact the SAMHSA helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
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