Patient Resources
Get Healthy!
Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi Shares Cervical Cancer Diagnosis, Urges Women To Get Pap Tests
- February 25, 2026
- HealthDay Staff HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 25, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Reality TV star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi said an early pap smear may have saved her life.
In a video shared on TikTok, the 38-year-old said she was diagnosed with stage one cervical cancer after doctors found adenocarcinoma during a routine pap test.
"Obviously not the news that I was hoping for, but also not the worst news just because they caught it so early," Polizzi said in the video. "Thank freaking God, and that's why I'm literally telling you guys to get your pap smears done."
She said she posted the video on Feb. 20 to help other women with similar journeys or health anxieties feel seen.
Polizzi, who rose to fame on MTV’s "Jersey Shore," said doctors removed part of her cervix containing the tumor. Tests showed that the tissue around it did not contain cancer cells.
Because the cancer was caught early, she said she does not need chemotherapy.
“Nobody wants to do that,” she added.
Polizzi said she has an upcoming PET scan, which will check whether the cancer has spread to other parts of her body, including her lymph nodes.
She also said she will likely need a hysterectomy.
"So 2026 is not panning out how I wanted it to, but also, could be worse, could be very much worse," she said. "So even though it's not the news that I wanted to get, and I still have to do further things to get rid of this, I just feel like it's very common in women."
Polizzi encouraged other women with similar experiences to share their stories and support one another.
"We are a community of women, and there's literally no platform or anywhere where women are talking about this," she said. "Because a lot of women go through it silently without anyone to talk to, and they're scared by themselves. And that was me."
She had previously shared that pap smears made her uncomfortable, but said avoiding them only delayed care, USA Today reported.
"I waited on my damn appointments because I knew I might not get great results, but also I didn't want to feel the pain," she explained. "I didn't wanna deal with the stress of having to deal with all of this, even though now I'm having to deal with all of it. Not great. I'm a Sagittarius. I'm not great with that."
Polizzi’s message now is clear: Don’t let fear stop you from getting screened.
"It’s scary, but we have to get it done because cervical cancer is nothing to joke about," she said.
More inforamtion
The Mayo Clinic has more on cervical cancer.
SOURCE: USA Today, Feb. 20, 2026
