Jodie Sweetin may have been a child star on one of the most popular sitcoms of the ’80s and ’90s, but life wasn’t easy in the years that followed. During an appearance on the podcast We’re Still Here, Babe, hosted by Natanya Ross, Sweetin, who starred as the outgoing Stephanie Tanner on Full House, spoke candidly about her challenges with alcohol and drug abuse, as well as financial hardships. By the time she signed on for Netflix’s Fuller House revival, Sweetin she was still finding it difficult to make ends meet. “I had to borrow money the first week I was working on Fuller House, and I skidded into my first paycheck with like, $190 in my bank account,” she recalled. “And nobody that I worked with knew that.” Sweetin said she didn’t care whether people knew or not, though she’s used to people assuming she must be set for life because of her TV fame. But in reality, there have been instances where “there’s no money and you gotta work, and your ego can’t be involved in it.”
During the interview, Sweetin voiced her frustration with people attributing her addiction and struggles to being a child star. Sweetin said that she grew up in Seal Beach, a “nice middle-class neighborhood,” where she knew young people who went to rehab and got DUIs. Regarding her own substance abuse, Sweetin said her career afforded her the opportunity to seek treatment and focus on recovery. “I was in a position that I had been known, so that I had made enough money to be able to afford to get the treatment, and get all of that kind of stuff because I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t,” she said. “I always say that for a minute, I’m never not grateful for the fact that I had available to me the ability to go and get good treatment and to be able to afford. And then the money’s gone.”
Sweetin said that part of the reason why she was able to return to Hollywood and enjoy the experience was that she “had gone completely in the other direction,” working a normal job. She recalled having “no money” and living in a 1.5-bedroom apartment with her two daughters, earning $2,200 a month while her parents covered half her rent. “I didn’t have ego about it,” she said. “I didn’t care that I was, quote, unquote, working a normal job. I think other people, again were like, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I was like, ‘Paying my bills. Kids don’t pay for themselves.'” Sweetin was working at a treatment center when she got a call about reprising her role for Fuller House, which lasted for five seasons between 2016 and 2020. She said she never expected to return to the world of Full House, calling the revival a “weirdly surreal experience.”
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