It’s been nearly five months since we learned the shocking news:

Sammi Giancola is coming back to Jersey Shore.

MTV confirmed the development in March via a Tweet that read “She’s still the sweetest bitch you’ll ever meet. @sammisweetheart #JSFamilyVacation.”

Now, however, the former cast member — known to fans and friends as “Sweetheart” — is here to answer one simple question before the show returns with new episodes on August 3.

WHY?!?

“I needed the time to regroup and figure out my own life,” Giancola tells Variety of why she waited a full 11 years before making her return.

“I wasn’t in a good head space. I just couldn’t do the show back then. And I’m happy that I’m able to be able to come back and do it now.”

Sammi was part of the original Jersey Shore cast, starring on the smash hit reality show from 2009 through 2012.

She turned down the chance to appear on the revival, “Family Vacation,” when it premiered in 2018, however.

“I missed filming all those years. Why not come back and try it again, give it a shot, and see if I like it,” she added to Variety, admitting that she broke off contact with nearly everyone except, although not due to any issues or disagreements.

“I didn’t have any bad blood with anybody through the years, I was just living my own life,” she says now.

No bad blood? Not even with ex-boyfriend Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, with whom Sammi has already filmed a few scenes?

“At this point, he’s just a guy I dated in my 20’s,” she said to Variety.

“We all go through relationships. He’s basically just a co-worker at this point.”

This, despite Ronnie having infamously cheated on her back in the day.

“I’m definitely at a point where I can laugh at it and make a joke out of it,” Sammi says.

“A lot of people, I feel like, go through the whole cheating thing, especially in your 20’s. Mine just so happened to be on TV… it’s just kind of funny now to look back and be like, ‘What a crazy time in my life.’”

These days, Sammi is dating a man named Justin May — and he’ll actually appear on episodes of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

“I’ve gone through a lot through the past years,” she emphasized to Variety.

“It’s been so long and whether it’s good or bad, at least everybody can see me again.”

Jersey Shore: Family Vacation returns with new episodes on MTV Thursday August 3 at 8/7c

Sammi Giancola: I’m Back on Jersey Shore! Let Me Explain Why… was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.