The Aug. 23 episode of Jersey Shore flashes through the holiday season and picks up right after the New Year, and the drama between Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and Jen Harley is escalated more than ever. They’ve made headlines again, this time for her allegedly hitting him with an ashtray and leaving him with a black eye. Things get so bad, that Ronnie decides to leave Las Vegas and pay a visit to his dad on the east coast. “I’m just tired of the chaos in my life,” he says. “I’m turning to my dad because he’s somebody who’s been through what I’ve been through or worse situations than I’ve been through…and he turned himself around.”
Ron’s dad reiterates what everyone has been saying to him all along — the drama with Jen seems never-ending. “It’s like the boy who cried wolf,” he admits. He also tells his son that he’s worried he’ll “end up in jail or dead” if things don’t change. His dad urges him to get extra help to make things better. “You gotta take care of yourself before you’re a father or a friend,” he says. “What good are you to [your daughter] if you don’t have your stuff together? Nothing. Work on you. You can be a great, powerful example to your daughter. She can see you and say…wow…that’s a great powerful example. Because right now, it’s not looking good.”
Ronnie decides to take his dad’s advice and call a treatment center to get help. “I feel like the last year has stripped me down, layer by layer, like an onion,” he explains. “I’ve got nothing left at this point. I need to figure out why I’m so unhappy, and figure out how to get back to a better place and be a better father. I need to figure out how to be a better person, a better friend. I don’t really know what the answer is, so I think that’s what I’m looking for — answers. I got to a point where I’m tired of being tired. Depression is something that I suffer with and everything I’m doing is not working, so I think I finally realize…I need help.”
He concludes with an emotional confessional, in which he almost breaks down in tears. “My biggest fear is something’s going to happen and I won’t be there for the baby,” he reveals. “I want to be a better father. I gotta do it for me and the baby. That’s what I gotta focus on. Coming to see my dad might be the best thing that ever happened — he hit rock bottom and got clean. Now, he’s an amazing person to be around and is such an inspiration. I want to be like that. Obviously, I love Jen, but right now, I have to remove myself from a toxic situation and work on myself. At the end of the day, it starts with me. If I’m not okay, then my relationship with my child isn’t okay, the relationship with my girlfriend isn’t okay. I can’t rely on other people. I can’t rely on alcohol and other things to make me happy. I want to be a better role model for my daughter. I want my daughter to look at me and be proud of me. If I could tell Ariana one thing right now it’d be that daddy loves her and I’m doing this for her because it’s going to make me a better person and I want to be a better person in her life. Everything I do is for her. Every move I make is for her. All of this doesn’t matter without her.”
