Snooki 'retiring' from 'Jersey Shore': 'I just can't do it anymore'

Snooki stunned fans on Friday by announcing that she's "retiring" from "Jersey Shore."

The reality star, who is the biggest star to come out of the long-running MTV hit, shared the news on her podcast, "It's Happening with Snooki & Joey," in episode released on Friday.

"I love you so much, and don’t hate me for my decision," the 32-year-old mother of three said. "I am retiring from 'Jersey Shore.' I am not coming back to 'Jersey Shore' for season 4 if there is one."

"The main reason is really … I just can’t do it anymore," she continued. "Literally, leaving my kids to film it is really, really hard on me."

Snooki, whose real name is Nicole Polizzi, shares three children -- Lorenzo Dominic, 7, Giovanna Marie, 5, and Angelo James, 6 -- with her husband, Jionni LaValle, who she met on the show's original run.

"Jersey Shore" premiered on MTV in December 2009 and subsequently ran for six seasons, before ending in 2012. The show was rebooted in 2018 as "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," which has aired for three seasons so far.

The show, which has made countless headlines around dramatic stories such as co-star Jenni "JWOWW" Farley's tumultuous divorce and Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino's prison sentence for tax evasion, has certainly evolved over the years, and Polizzi said that she didn't love where it was going.

"I’m not saying goodbye," she said of reality TV in general. "I just need to move on from the show because I don’t like the direction it’s going in when it comes to the drama and the cattiness."

She added that the show has "been very drama," "serious" and become "not something I signed up for."

"For me, I don’t want that and I’m not leaving my kids days on end to film this show when that’s the result of it," Snooki said. "I just don’t like the turnout of it and I don’t like the person I’m being portrayed as. This is getting a little too much. At 32 years old and with three kids, if I’m doing a reality show I just want it to be fun and light-hearted, and lately it’s not like that and the show is getting so dramatic."