Jersey Shore Turns 15 ... But Do the Show's Stars Feel Respected Yet? (Exclusive)

MTV's big premiere introduced viewers to Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, Jenni "JWoww" Farley, Pauly "DJ Pauly D" Delvecchio, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Samantha "Sammi Sweetheart" Giancola and Angelina Pivarnick -- with Deena Nicole Cortese joining later -- as they spent the summer living together in Seaside Heights.

While they made a name for themselves by fighting, hooking up and partying with each other in those early seasons -- and were accused of making the Shore look bad by then-NJ governor Chris Christie in the process -- the cast used their platform to expand their footprint in the years since.

Trademarks and merchandising opportunities led to some of them opening their own brick and mortar stores, while Pauly became one of the most in-demand DJs in the country. A number of the stars have released books, while Mike's sobriety journey inspired him to work on opening his own treatment center. Jenni, meanwhile, released her directorial debut -- a horror movie, Devon -- just last month.

Though the meatballs have made money moves, have they felt a shift in public perception toward them since the show's debut?

"100 percent. I mean its undeniable now at 15 years," Sorrentino told TooFab when asked if they feel more respected now, after a decade and a half in the spotlight.

"You know that the staying power is there. All of us, our brands, our followers, and things like that," he continued. "A lot of times, we go to the award shows, and sometimes we don't know who some of the new up-and-comers are. They come up to us and they are like, 'Hey, what's up, I'm your biggest fans. It's all very cool and very deserving thing as well."

"Yeah, I agree as well," Polizzi also told TooFab.

"Everyone thought of us just as these idiots that get drunk and party. But I feel like now everyone's seen us grow up and they realize we are just normal people. We just like to have fun sometimes," she continued. "When people meet me, they're like, 'You are completely different from what I expected you to be. You’re just a normal person, you changed my whole mind about you.'"

"I'm like yeah, we're great people, just a little crazy at times," she added with a laugh.

In Mike's eyes, the cast all "broke the stigma of being reality stars" and were able to push past people not wanting to recognize their success. "15 years later, it's undeniable."

Jenni, however, doesn't see it the same way. While she has always felt the love of fans and from MTV, it's still been an uphill battle for her to break out of the reality TV world and into more mainstream Hollywood success. It's something she really recognized while working on her aforementioned feature film.

"I think we were respected by MTV, by Paramount, by the people that's keeping our lights on. I think they love us," she shared. "But one of the biggest struggles that I think going into Devon, I thought it was going to be a lot easier."

"I know a lot of celebrities and actors, anyone trying to shift their career or change the genre or that they're type casted, it's hard," she continued. "I got a lot of doors closed on me because they were like, 'You're reality, stick with reality.' I was like, but my dream is to be a tiny director in horror!"

"I'll be honest with you; it did not make my life easier," she said of being in the reality TV world. "I had to kind of crawl my way out of who I am today."

Though she said that there were 1,001 moments "when I wanted to give up" while making her movie, she added that she's actually happy "it wasn't that easy," because it showed her true hustle.

"I wouldn't have appreciated it and I wouldn't have appreciated the time and energy I put into it," she added. "Being a reality star, outside of Kim Kardashian, [who] is breaking glass ceilings everywhere, it's hard transitioning to other forms of media."

Despite that pushback they've experienced, Nicole told TooFab she's "so proud" of how they've all also become "better versions of ourselves" since 2009.

"We're moms and dads, we're all married. I'm just really proud of us, of how far we come, but also, we're still killing it," she added. "We still go on vacations, we still have a great time, there is still no script. We just genuinely enjoy being together ... We still have the chemistry that we had from day one. So, I love that about us. Every single season, we get closer and closer. It just keeps getting better and better."

"We've come so far," added Mike. "We all have beautiful families, beautiful kids, brands and it's just a very rare story. We're so excited to continue telling it."

Jersey Shore is still airing Thursdays on MTV.