The Major Challenge Dr. Jackie Dueñas Faces With New Stardom - Exclusive
Move over Dr. Pimple Popper, there's a new cyst-popping reality star in town by the name of Dr. Jackie Dueñas. The Miami-area veterinarian specializes in removing the nastiest growths on animals of every variety — from canines to even crocodiles — for her new Discovery+ show, Pop My Pet. She's the queen of the corpuscles, large and small, cancerous, and benign.
But as Dr. Dueñas explained when she sat down with Nicki Swift, extricating enormously infected animal pustules and saving the lives of people's precious pets on camera in the process — oddly entertaining as it is rancid — isn't even the hardest part of her day. This beautiful and dedicated young woman is also a wife, and a new mom to boot. She says balancing a demanding job, a new TV show — one she's surprised to even be a part of — and a new baby boy, is a lot for one person.
In an exclusive interview with Nicki Swift, Dr. Dueñas broke down how she's juggling this strange and rewarding new twist of fate.
How Dr. Jackie Dueñas gets through her day
Dr. Jackie Dueñas met the love of her life right before veterinary school. She graduated in 2017 and then married this handsome young man, in an elegant ceremony in 2018. "He's end game for sure and he's wonderful," she gushed to Nicki Swift.
But that doesn't mean her man has an appetite for the stomach-churning sights of Pop My Pet. "He's an accountant, so he's more of a numbers kind of guy," Dr. Dueñas explains. "And he was sitting next to me at the premiere. It was actually my birthday on the day that the show premiered on Discovery+. We had my small intimate family and he was holding my hand, but he was just kind of doing one of these," Dr. Dueñas mimes covering her face, "'I'm so proud of you but I can't look.'"
Someone who has less trouble with her new show is her adorable baby boy — looking more like a young man every day. "He was just really excited to see me there and he kept saying 'mama' and looking at the screen and then looking at me when we watched it together," says Dr. Dueñas. She says she debated whether she should, "let a 15-month-old watch a surgery show," but in the end, "I don't know that he necessarily knows what was happening, but he definitely was very excited to see his mom on the screen."
The hardest part of being reality a star and mom
Vet school is a notorious grind. And maybe that's the perfect training for motherhood. "I never realized how hard of a job being a mom was," explains Dr. Jackie Dueñas. "And I think being a mom and being a veterinarian are both very demanding roles ... but I love both."
Dr. Dueñas' though says her priorities are clear. "I make sure that when I'm with my son, I really truly step away and that's my family time. I just try and prioritize: this is my work time, this is my family time, but it definitely has been a challenge." Dr. Dueñas also follows other vet moms via Instagram, and the guidance there has helped her in, "merging my life as a veterinarian ... versus what my family's expectations are."
"It's hard." the good doc admits. "And I don't want to say that I've found the perfect balance. I constantly have to put myself in check. Instead of working four or five days a week, I work three and a half days a week. And that's what's great about the veterinary field. I can at any point say, 'hey, you know what? I want to come back to work full time,' or, you know what, 'I only want to work on exotic.' ... So right now this is what works for me."
As of March 1, 2021, Pop My Pet is streaming exclusively on Discovery+.