You may have noticed that we have a societal obsession with nostalgia and the past. Well, Netflix is cashing in on that by producing a Full House sequel series, Fuller House. While Mary-Kate and Ashley are apparently way too cool and too busy chain-smoking to participate, want to know who isn’t too cool to appear on a spin-off? Stephanie Tanner AKA Jodie Sweetin but MKA (mainly known as) Stephanie Tanner. She’s also never been too cool to publicly admit her struggles with drugs and alcohol. But this isn’t just another good-girl-child-star-turned-bad-girl-druggie story. It sounds like addictive tendencies were in the cards for Sweetin with or without the fame she acquired from starring on one of America’s most beloved multi-cam sitcoms.
Full House to Full-Blown Addiction
According to a recent story in Inquisitr, Sweetin actually traces the beginning of her destructive drinking and using back to fellow Full House cast member Candace Cameron Bure’s wedding not long after the series wrapped. Sweetin was 14 and new to the reality of being a teenager off-set. She downed two bottles of wine at the reception and now says, “That first drink gave me the self-confidence I had been searching for my whole life.” Seeing as how Sweetin’s entire awkward phase was on display for a country to pick apart season after season, that sentiment makes total sense.
Apparently Bure got some heat for the fact that Sweetin drank at her wedding, which is a little ridiculous; Sweetin certainly wasn’t the first underage person to drink at a wedding and it’s highly unlikely her alcoholism was caused by that open bar. Both Sweetin’s parents were in prison when she was born so she was adopted by an uncle before even turning one. But her mother struggled with drug addiction and her father presumably did too but was killed in a prison riot so there isn’t too much information about him.
Then There Was the Coke and Meth
In her 2009 memoir, unSweetined, Sweetin writes about her issues with cocaine and meth, too. Apparently she was sucked into the meth death grip when she was 22 and ended up in a rehab for the drug in 2005. It’s not entirely clear how much clean time she officially has now but at one point, in an interview with US Weekly, she said she “got sober for good on December 7, 2008.” Her bottom, she’s said, was driving with her young child in the car after consuming upwards of two glasses of wine. Word is that she started going to AA full-force when she realized her parenting privileges and skills (and daughter’s life) were on the line.
Two kids, three husbands, a couple of hosting gigs, a jewelry line and a role-reprising acting job later, Sweetin seems to now be in stable recovery mode. And I assume she must be happy and stable because her Twitter and Instagram feeds are chock full of exclamation points! (If that doesn’t say “excited about recovery,” I don’t know what does.)
Sitcom Spin-Outs
Sweetin wasn’t the only Full House family member to battle demons. Mary-Kate Olsen checked into a Utah rehab for eating disorder concerns in 2004. And in the summer of 2015, our beloved Uncle Jesse, John Stamos, sought treatment for substance abuse after being arrested for a DUI, thereby disproving the theory that massive commercial success, exceptionally good looks and a solid run of Greek yogurt commercials can guarantee happiness.
It’s just a fact: no matter how much we know otherwise, many of us still subconsciously think that being good looking and/or rich and famous solves all problems. But in cases like the stars of Full House, does it cause more issues—or the propensity to self-medicate—worse? Another well known sitcom star, Tood Bridges, who played Willis Jackson on Diff’rent Strokes, spiraled into addiction after the show’s hugely successful run ended in 1986. (He says he’s been sober now for over two decades.) And we all know about the ups and downs of young stars like Lindsay Lohan’s and Amanda Bynes.
When it comes to recovery, we’re all set on an even playing field, even if Danny Tanner was our pretend dad for eight years. Getting sober in the public eye cannot be easy but when celebs show their humanity and take one for the team, so to speak, the rest of us of suffering from ‘isms feel a little less alone.
Is it too much to hope they address this issue in Fuller House? In the original sitcom, every episode ended with some cheesy instrumental music and a life lesson from Danny, Joey or Jesse, usually atop one of the kid’s beds. If they continue that theme in the spin-off and we consider how much young people have exposure to now, versus the 90s, they really have no reason not to keep sh*t real.
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