For kids who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, watching Full House often felt like an extension of your own family. It portrayed the perfect life, the perfect kids, as well as the most perfect parents one could hope for.
But although the lives of the Tanner family might have appeared idyllic on TV, for series star Jodie Sweetin — life was anything but. Now, after more than 35 years since the debut of Full House , the actress is opening up about her childhood and her life with her adoptive family .
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If you’re an ’80s/’90s kid, then it’s safe to assume that you’re already well acquainted with Jodie Sweetin.
Besides being in some Hallmark movies, Jodie played the adorably sarcastic Stephanie Tanner on the much-beloved family sitcom, Full House . She is now an icon because of it.
The show ran for 8 seasons and is considered by many to be one of the defining series of the decade.
Years later, after Jodie was all grown up, she reprised her role on the Netflix revival series Fuller House.
And listen, I don’t care what you say: I LOVED ‘Fuller House’.
I’ll take any excuse to see Uncle Jesse.
Much to the delight of fans, Fuller House was able to live up to the legacy of its predecessor and then some.
On TV, Jodie’s family was all but perfect.
But in reality, her home life situation was anything but that. In fact, it was a bit of a nightmare.
At the time of Jodie’s birth, both of her biological parents were incarcerated.
Her mother was a struggling addict.
Her father was killed in a prison riot before Jodie ever had the chance to meet him. Recently, she made an appearance on Olivia Jade’s ‘Conversations’ podcast and opened up a lot about her life.
Jodie opened up about her adoptive family and the connection they share with her birth parents.
“So my dad, Sam, my adopted dad, his ex-wife who he had three adult kids with when they adopted me, she was my biological father’s aunt ,” Jodie explained.
During the time that she was living at her great-aunt’s home, someone was making visits.
Her soon-to-be adoptive father would often come over to check on things and see her.
“He was still around that family and saw me there.”
Luckily, this would end up being really good for her.
“And, as fate would have it, Sam and his second wife, Janice, were hoping to start a family of their own ,” Jodie said.
Thankfully, she was in their sights.
The former ‘Full/Fuller House’ star went on to talk about how Sam and Janice were having troubles with conception.
Jodie was in dire need of a family and Sam and Janice desperately wanted a child of their own. Their fates aligned and roughly one year later, the adoption was finalized.
Jodie has spoken in previous interviews about how the adoption began fostering feelings of hurt and rejection.
While speaking with Allison Kugel on the Allison Interviews podcast, Jodie conveyed how in her younger years she used to think “‘Oh, something was wrong with me .’”
As she got older, however, she began to look at the situation from a different perspective.
“There’s this point in your life where you finally kind of realize what happened,” Sweetin said. “That it no longer becomes something about you, that it’s like, ‘Oh, I wasn’t wanted .’”
“It was like, ‘No, they actually made the healthiest decision for me by allowing me to be adopted by another family that could provide better.’”
Although it might sound like something out of a Lifetime movie, in reality, intrafamily adoptions are incredibly common and even preferred.
Jodie expanded on the topic.
She offered her reasons as to why more people don’t talk about intrafamily adoption.
“People don’t really talk about it, because I think there’s this weird sense of shame if there’s an interfamily adoption ,” she said thoughtfully.
“But I think that interfamily adoption happens a lot…”
“So I like sharing my story now, because I think that more people are like, ‘Oh my gosh, me, too.'”
She is certainly right about that! Thankfully, people are opening up about these situations a lot more.
I’m for one, proud of Jodie for opening up about her experience.
If you’d like to keep up to date with Jodie and all that she has going on in her world today, be sure to check out the Never Thought I’d Say This podcast on Spotify.
