Mike Sorrentino is known to Jersey Shore fans as The Situation.
But now the reality start has a new nickname: The Inspiration.
Sorrentino recently filmed a video with Ventnor's Paula Maccagnano, who does branding for Discovery Institute, the detox and rehabilitation center where he got clean three years ago.
“What I learned at Discovery has taught me a new way to live,” he says in the video.
“You filmed all year this year for the first time sober,” Maccagnano points out to the star of “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
“I was actually a bit insecure going into season one of ‘Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,’” he confides. “I was about two years sober, I had a very good foundation but I hadn’t stepped foot in a club. I hadn’t necessarily filmed a show like that.”
Together, the two traveled to the Phoenix Recovery Sober House in Eatontown, where they donated dinner and Sorrentino gave some insights he learned from his own recovery.
Discovery Institute and Mike Sorrentino have a recovery scholarship program called The Giving Tree:
Click for more information
“He’s very cool, genuinely kind and wants to help,” said Maccagnano, 26, who is nearing seven years clean. “He’s got really good recovery under his belt too.”
Sorrentino recently returned from his honeymoon with new wife, Lauren Pesce. Next month, he will begin serving an eight-month federal prison sentence for tax evasion.
“He’s got to face this jail time, but the best part about it is he hasn’t let it hurt his recovery,” Maccagnano said. “Usually, stressors like this send people off the edge.”
But, he told her, he’s learned “it all comes down to mindset: If you think you can do it, you can. And if you think you can’t, you won’t.”
While in prison, he plans to write a book about recovery.
And the institute’s work with Sorrentino will continue, Maccagnano said.
“We’re going to continue to work with him even during and after,” she said. “He’s not going to stop working on his mission just because he’s going to jail.”
