Jersey Shore’s Sammi Giancola Opens Up About Her IVF Experience

Jersey Shore alum Sammi “Sweetheart” Giancola is getting real about IVF.

In the season 7 trailer of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, the show teases a variety of family moments, from the birth of The Situation’s third child to Snooki exploring her adoption story, and Sammi beginning her journey to parenthood through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“I’m nervous, I am so nervous,” she told PageSix recalling what it was like to share her IVF journey with the world. “I go through it on the show, but I was so nervous about the whole thing … I wasn’t sure what to film. It was just a scary process in general because it’s so personal.”

Giancola admits she’s in “a very vulnerable stage” of her life and, while she didn’t allow the film crew into her doctor’s visits, she did let them document her self-administering hormone injections and sharing her journey with the cast. “Towards the end [of filming], I started to open up a little bit more and it was nice to get the girls’ support,” she said of co-stars Jenni “JWoww” Farley, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Deena Cortese and Angelina Pivarnick.

“You kind of see how it all plays out,” the TV personality added. “I’m still on this journey and I’m still going through it, and it’s a difficult journey, but it’s nice to hear other people’s stories and … having the support there is just really, really nice.”

The 37-year-old revealed she froze her eggs two years ago in preparation but has been concerned about how people will react to her decision. “Some people don’t believe in IVF and stuff, so I was nervous to tell anybody,” she explained. “I was leaning on other platforms like Instagram or TikTok and seeing what other people were going through.”

The support Giancola has received from her castmates has extended beyond the show to fans and casual viewers since the debut of season 7. “It’s really nice to be able to read all your messages; they don’t go unnoticed, and you really have been making my day a little bit better,” she shared in an Instagram Reel on September 20. “I am learning a lot from all of you out there. You are giving great advice to me, and I hope I can help someone else in some sort of way by sharing my journey on the show.”

Giancola hopes to welcome a child soon with her fiancé, Justin May. The Sweetheart Coast boutique owner says May has been her “rock and her backbone” throughout this process. The two met in 2022 and, after two years of dating, got engaged in March 2024.