Vinny Guadagnino Reveals How Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino Is Doing Ahead of His Prison Sentence
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is hanging in there as his prison sentence quickly approaches.
Sorrentino’s longtime friend and Jersey Shore co-star Vinny Guadagnino opened up to PEOPLE on what Sorrentino’s final days as a freeman have been like.
“Mike is holding up really well, honestly, it’s getting close, so I’m like ‘Uhh is it… is it going to start to get sad?’ Like I’m waiting for him to get sad, nope, [he’s] still eating McDonald’s, posting and sending me his food,” Guadagnino, 31, explained at the premiere party for MTV’s new show Lindsay Lohan’s Beach Club on Monday.
Guadagnino praised his costar, describing Sorrentino, 36, as “the most mentally strong person” he knows. “It’s from all the things he had to go through so like in a weird way, whatever he’s done in the past, like the bad things, have made him an amazing person so it’s kind of bittersweet that he has to go away,” Guadagnino said.
Sorrentino must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons beginning Jan. 15, 2019, according to documents filed Monday and obtained by TMZ.
Sorrentino and his brother Marc were initially indicted in September 2014 for tax offenses and conspiring to defraud the United States after allegedly failing to properly pay taxes on $8.9 million in income from 2010 to 2012.
In April 2017, both men were indicted on additional charges including tax evasion, structuring and falsifying records.
Then in January, Sorrentino pled guilty to one count of tax evasion and was sentenced to eight months in prison on Oct. 5. (His brother Marc pled guilty to one count of aiding in the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return and was sentenced to two years in prison.)
During his interview with PEOPLE, Gaudagnino revealed he and the Jersey Shore cast have plans to visit him in prison.
“On and off the show he is the best friend, he’ll give you the shirt off his back. He had an addiction problem, you know what I mean, to substances, and he had to go through the program and it’s like retrained his brain completely and now he applies that to all of these other things, like when he has to go away.”
Although Gaudagnino is not looking forward to saying goodbye, he is happy to be there for his friend.
Guadagnino also spoke on his other co-star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro amid news that he has filed a police report against Jen Harley after an alleged violent altercation during a New Year’s Eve Party.
The on-and-off again couple, who share 9-month-old daughter Ariana Sky, allegedly got into a heated argument while at the Las Vegas strip club Hustler, a source previously told PEOPLE.
“I can say for sure the constant thing in his life is being there for his daughter and being a great Dad,” Gaudagnino explained.
