Most Millennials will know the cultural phenomenon “Sammi” from Sammi “Sugar” Giancola’s reality TV show jersey shore. Giancola starred on the hit MTV show for several seasons before quitting. She recently rebooted with her former castmates, Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, Now, she’s starting to really understand her IVF journey.
Giancola, 37, told Page Six virtual reality tea The podcaster said she was emotionally exhausted by her experience with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and making the choice to give viewers a glimpse of a “really scary process.”
“I was nervous, I was so nervous,” she said of sharing such an intimate part of her life with the world.
“I’d been through it on the show, but I was so nervous about the whole thing… I had no idea what I was going to film. Overall, it was a scary process because it was so personal.
Giancola, who also suffers from endometriosis, revealed in the show’s Season 7B premiere that she plans to have a child with fiancé Justin May through IVF.
“I think I’m still nervous about watching it, and I’m still nervous about what people are saying,” she continued, anticipating that some viewers might disagree with her potential pregnancy path.
“It was a very vulnerable stage in my life. It still is, and I’m still going through it, so I don’t know how I’m going to watch it. I think that’s why I was so nervous in the beginning, because I didn’t know if I would Be able to handle it.
Giancola kept her privacy from MTV cameras during her doctor’s appointment, but she did allow filming of her self-injecting hormones and explaining her IVF journey to the cast.
“In the end [of filming]”I’m starting to open up a little more and it’s nice to have the support of the girls,” she said of co-stars Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Deena Cortese and Angelina Pivarnick.
“You kind of know how it all happened,” she added. “I’m still on this journey, I’m still going through it and it’s a tough journey, but it’s nice to hear other people’s stories… It’s been really, really good to have the support out there.”
Before Giancola was willing to open up to her fellow cast members, she turned to social media for solidarity.
“Some people don’t believe in things like IVF, so I was nervous telling anyone,” she explains. “I rely on other platforms like Instagram or TikTok to see what other people are going through.”
Finally, Giancola felt compelled to stand up and share her story.
“Through observation and learning [social media users]I started to realize that maybe I should talk about this,” she told virtual reality tea.
“Or maybe I should come out and talk about this because maybe other people can connect with me, or maybe I can help someone, or maybe other people can share their story or their journey and help me in some other way,” she added .
Giancola praised her fiancé Justin May as her “rock and support.”
“We’re going through this together,” she said. “So we already have each other.”
Giancola froze her eggs when she was 35.
“It sucks to be a woman at this age,” Giancola said. “It’s really terrible, it’s terrible.”
“My eggs were frozen,” she says in the video. “I’ve gotten over it. At 36, I really thought I was going to be married and live in a house somewhere with kids, but that’s not my life now.
In an interview, the owner of Sweet Coast Boutique on the Ocean City Boardwalk also declared that she was in no rush to start a family.
“I’m not in a hurry,” Sammi said. “I don’t want to feel the pressure to do this. I don’t want to get older at all.
Two years later, Giancola seems ready! I just hope she has good news.
