One of America's biggest reality TV personalities in recent years, the 24-year-old Snooki graces the cover of the upcoming issue of US Weekly magazine and tells its editors she is pregnant and engaged to boyfriend Jionni LaValle.

The story confirms reports that began to surface in the media last week. Snooki told the magazine she is 15 weeks along in her pregnancy.

"I have different priorities now," the pint-sized personality known for her wild partying told the magazine. "I don't care what anybody else thinks. As long as I know I'm ready and he's ready."

Snooki said she found out about the pregnancy after a typically wild New Year's Eve when she had been drinking. "I was worried. It was New Year's Eve and we were in Vegas, so I did go crazy," she told the magazine.

Although Snooki and "Jersey Shore" have been the subject of some ridicule, the show has consistently topped U.S. TV ratings for cable channel MTV, with critics attributing much of the show's popularity to Snooki's antics, including her real-life arrest in 2010 for disorderly conduct on a New Jersey beach.

She has also authored a novel and has been given her own spin off reality TV show. She recently topped a Valentine's Day survey by Yahoo's OMG! website of nightmare celebrity Valentine dates. Thirty percent of men saying they would rather be single than take her out on a date.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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