Hollywood To You / BACKGRIDRonnie Magro-Ortiz sought help and now he's ready to talk about it.
Fans have watched the Jersey Shore star's tumultuous personal life play out on the small screen and on social media as of late, but his recent rehab stay was something he kept to himself until now.
"I decided to go to treatment because...I was just making the wrong decisions and I was very depressed," he told Us Weekly. "When I was depressed, I would turn to drinking and then when I would drink, bad things would just continue to happen because I wasn't reacting the way I should."
While it's unclear how long he stayed in treatment, the 33-year-old acknowledged that this will be a lifetime struggle. "I'm still struggling. I'm going to struggle for the rest of my life," he told the magazine. "It's a monkey that's on your back and it's never going to get off."
However, Ortiz-Magro reached a point where he needed help. "I was definitely in a place where I didn't know how to control my life anymore," he told Us Weekly.
While he was angry and resentful toward himself for having to go to rehab, he made the decision with both himself and his 10-month-old daughter Ariana Sky in mind. "I decided to go to treatment because I wanted to be a better person, a better father for my daughter," he said.
Ariana's mother, Jen Harley, gave fans a hint that he was working on himself just last week when she publicly criticized him for canceling their Valentine's Day plans.
"I'm sorry but if you go away for 6 weeks to become a better boyfriend, father, person, etc to work on your family but you choose to cancel all of our plans on Valentine's Day so you can appear on a dating show bc you need the money that bad over your family…you're a joke," Jen shared on Instagram Stories. "How did you better anything?"
As for what's next, a source shared with E! News that Ronnie and Jen are currently planning on living separately from each other. Friends, however, believe it's only a matter of time before they patch things up again.
"They have a pattern of doing this but they can't stay away from each other because of their daughter and when they're around each other, they can't fight their feelings and ultimately get back together every time," a source shared with us.