Key Takeaways
- Ronnie Ortiz-Magro told The Journey Podcast he entered rehab for his daughter, Ariana, calling his recovery a “selfless” decision.
- The Jersey Shore star recalled looking up rehabs while high and fearing he would die without treatment, before turning to his father for advice.
- Ortiz-Magro left Jersey Shore: Family Vacation in 2021 following a domestic violence arrest and returned in 2023 after rehab.
Jersey Shore’s Ronnie Ortiz-Magro made the intentional decision to enter rehab for cocaine addiction for the sake of his daughter, Ariana.
The reality TV star discussed his past struggles with substance abuse on the Monday (Nov. 9) episode of The Journey Podcast, just months after revealing to his Instagram followers that he had “high functioning depression.” Ronnie shares his 8-year-old daughter with his ex-girlfriend, Jen Harley, who he broke up with in 2019 after two years of dating on-and-off.
Around the eleven-minute mark of the video below, Ronnie explained that he thought money, drugs and women would “fill a void” within him, but admitted that he felt constant “emptiness” during his time on the original Jersey Shore.
By the time of the show’s Family Vacation spinoff, Ronnie was “still partying” after the birth of his daughter, which took a toll on him.
“I would sit in the bathroom and like just look up rehabs, high,” he admitted. “‘Cause I knew I got to get better. If not, I'm going to be dead.”
He also explained that he was “googling ways to like take my own life like seriously cause it was like that bad.”
Ronnie added that he sought guidance from his father, who had been sober for roughly twenty years, and who helped him get treatment.
“Without my daughter, I would be doing everything selfish. For her, it's selfless,” Ronnie said. “That's what fills the cup is the selfless acts that you do for your child, for your family.”
Ronnie briefly departed Family Vacation in 2021 following his arrest for domestic violence, but returned in 2023 after being in rehab. Fellow Jersey Shore cast member Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino also sought recovery for drug addiction and developed rehab center The Archangel Centers in 2024 with his wife, Lauren.
