Nicole Polizzi Felt ‘Snooki’ Was Bad for Her Business Brand
Jersey Shore star Nicole Polizzi was once more known for her reality TV partying alter-ego Snooki. But as time went on, Polizzi wondered if Snooki’s popularity was more of a liability to her career.
Nicole Polizzi felt she needed to leave Snooki behind
Polizzi’s lifestyle was broadcast for millions to see on the original Jersey Shore. Before settling down, she was known for her flirtatious attitude and spontaneity. But things changed after meeting her current husband Jionni LaValle. The two would go on to start a family, which meant that Polizzi’s wild nights were essentially over.
“I don’t go out drinking anymore. I have two kids. I’m married,” she once said on Daily Beast. “I still have my same personality. I’m still the same person, but I have different priorities and responsibilities.”
She went on to declare that her Snooki persona was no more.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “People, I don’t care who you are, when you think of Snooki you think of the girl from Jersey Shore. She died four years ago.”
But the star left Snooki behind for another reason. After Jersey Shore ended its original run, she was interested in building a business like other celebrities did before her. But she was worried that her history as Snooki might’ve turned away potential business partners.
“I think it’s more frustrating for my brand,” she said. “When I try to pursue my clothing line and get into stores, they’re like, ‘Snooki from Jersey Shore? We don’t want that mess in here.’ You have to do this. Sit-down meetings. Say, ‘Hi, I’m Nicole. You knew me as Snooki but I’m not her anymore.'”
But Polizzi also reminded that, although she’s grown, she hasn’t completely changed. It seems that a tamer version of Snooki is still inside the reality star.
“It does feel like a lifetime ago. But if I were to say, ‘that’s not me,’ I’d be lying,” she said in an interview with Aesthetic. “You never really lose your personality. Sometimes I am goofy. I like to have fun and I’m outgoing. I’m just not going out to the club and finding men, and I’m wearing underwear now. Just like anyone else, you grow up, but at the same time you don’t lose yourself.”
Where Nicole Polizzi would be without ‘Jersey Shore’ and Snooki
Jersey Shore became a big part of Polizzi’s life at an early age. But even she might not have expected the series would become as popular as it did. She asserted that she always wanted to be on a reality TV series, as she grew up a fan of them herself.
“It wasn’t necessarily to be famous. I always wanted to be on reality [television]. I was a huge fan of The Real World and Road Rules when I was growing up. I always wanted to be on a show like that, just to experience it, and then go back to my job and have a normal life. I never necessarily wanted to be famous. It was more about doing reality because I was such a reality junkie; I was obsessed with it,” she said.
Without the fame and fortune that came with Jersey Shore, Polizzi figured she’d be living a very modest life right now. But it wasn’t a reality she wanted to spend too much time thinking about.
“I probably would still be living in upstate New York by my mom,” she said. “I was going to school to be a Vet Tech, so I’d probably be working in an animal hospital somewhere. But I honestly don’t care. I don’t even want to think about that, because I wouldn’t have my husband and I wouldn’t have my kids. It would be a totally different life that I don’t want to think about. The fact that I met my husband during the show is everything. Everything happens for a reason.”
