Making changes! After a year of ups and downs, the Jersey Shore cast couldn’t be happier to see Ronnie Ortiz-Magro get back on track.
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“We’re so excited and so proud to see this version of Ronnie,” Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino told Us Weekly exclusively on Thursday, November 12, while promoting the upcoming fourth season of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. “We call it ‘stable Ronnie’ … It’s good to see a happy, funny Ronnie on TV because [he’s] tons of fun.”
Vinny Guadagnino echoed his longtime costar’s positive comment, adding, “I’m happy [that] he’s happy. That man has definitely turned his life around. And that’s the biggest highlight of this next season is Ronnie was, like, present and there. That man showed up. … We’ve seen Ronnie go through a lot of struggles.”
In October 2019, Ortiz-Magro was arrested after an altercation at an Airbnb in Los Angeles, where he allegedly hit ex-girlfriend Jen Harley, whom he dated on and off from 2017 to 2019, while their 2-year-old daughter, Ariana, was present. He was charged with seven misdemeanors, including domestic violence, child endangerment, brandishing a weapon, criminal threats, false imprisonment, and two counts of resisting arrest. Ortiz-Magro was also hit with a protective order that prevented him from seeing his toddler.
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After denying the allegations, the MTV personality pleaded not guilty to the charges in November 2019. Two of the charges against him were eventually dropped in February and the protective order was lifted three months later.
Us confirmed in May that Ortiz-Magro accepted a plea deal in his domestic violence case that included a 36-month probation, 30 days of community service in Nevada and a $20,000 fine paid to a women’s shelter in Los Angeles. Five months later, he went Instagram official with his new girlfriend, Saffire Matos.
“Vinny met her last night and he likes her already,” the Famously Single alum told Us of his new flame on Thursday. “I would definitely say I’m in the happiest place I’ve been in a long time. You know, I feel like in the past I’ve always said, ‘I’m happy and I’m in a good place.’ I feel like I finally really have found my happiness.”
Though his history with Harley, 32, is filled with drama, Ortiz-Magro is looking forward to putting his past behind him and exploring his new romance.
“I found someone that adds to my happiness,” he told Us. “You know, she really does make me happy. She supports me. She loves me and that’s something that I’ve always looked for. And I feel like that’s [some]thing that I have not gotten in return and it’s [some]thing that I’ve always given to other people.”
Season 4 of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation premieres on MTV on Thursday, November 19, at 8 p.m. ET.
