No amount of Ron Ron juice could brighten Ronnie Magro's mood during Thursday night's premiere of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. The new father spent much of the two-hour episode moping and seeming conflicted — up until he broke down in tears and spilled his guts to his roommates, that is.
Fresh from the remarkable success of the first season and their stint and debauchery in Miami, the gang meets up in Las Vegas, where Magro lives with girlfriend Jen Harley and their newborn daughter, Ariana Sky.
Pauly DelVecchio, Vinny Guadagnino, Mike Sorrentino, Jenni Farley, and Nicole Polizzi, awkwardly tip-toe around Ronnie, especially after Harley visits their shared hotel suite with the baby. Filmed in the days after the tumultuous couple's Instagram fiasco — during which Ronnie slut-shamed Harley three weeks after she gave birth and declared himself a "single father" — the group asks Ronnie to open up and talk about his problems instead of sulking and brooding in silence. Not to mention dampening Vinny and Pauly's mood by refusing to go to a strip club.
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Amid heaving sobs, Ronnie admits he has been on his best behavior out of fear that Harley will vanish with their daughter as retaliation for his misdeeds. He also revealed she has taken Ariana Sky away for nearly a week at a time without him knowing their whereabouts. “I’m scared of losing my fucking daughter. Jen, she’s irrational. She’s capable of taking the baby and going away,” he says through tears. “I won’t even know where my daughter is. It’s crazy,” he added.
Jenni, the only one from the group to be real with Ronnie in this moment tells him what any sane person viewing this melodrama would: "Do you want my honest opinion? Leave her and fight for your daughter, and then go get help. Go to the court. Go get a lawyer.” She hits the nail on the head: Why would Ronnie or Harley remain in a clearly toxic relationship when they can just separate and co-parent their daughter? Obviously, it's easier to judge as an outsider without a complete understanding of the machinations of their relationship.
Magro explained his absence from promotional events leading up to the premiere in an Instagram post, writing that he has chosen to take time off to watch his daughter grow up. As if to do damage control after Thursday night's premiere, Magro posted a slideshow of photos from his "family vacation" with Harley and Ariana Sky in Puerto Rico. The couple look like they are working on their relationship as he posted several photos of him and Harley embracing and kissing.
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The preview for this season promises to reveal what really happened behind the scenes of Ronnie and Harley's intense social media feuds and the couple's altercation that resulted in Harley's arrest in June. What happened in Vegas is coming to a screen near you very soon.
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