Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Conversationous with Olivia Jade and I Heart Radio podcast.
Hello everybody, it's Olivia Jade. Welcome back to another episode
of Conversation. Today's guest is somebody very special and somebody
who I've known probably since I was a baby, because
she was on Full House with my mom. She has
(00:22):
such an amazing story and has been through so much.
And I'm sure some of you know and are familiar
with her, and maybe some of you know who she is,
but don't know what she's been through and the strength
she carries. So I am really excited to interview her today.
And with that being said, please welcome miss Jodie Sweeten.
(00:42):
Thank you so much for coming on. Absolutely my pleasure.
Olivia's good to be here. I'm so excited to have you. Obviously,
I feel like I've known you forever just through my
mom and stuff. But and I know so many people
who listen to this podcast know who you are and
grew up watching Full House and are such big fans.
But maybe for those who don't know who you are,
which is probably a very small percent of people, but
(01:04):
maybe you could explain a little bit about yourself. Um, yeah,
I have been best known as Stephanie Tanner on full
and Fuller House. Um. I have played the character since
I was five years old and then got to come
back and do it on Fuller House for five seasons. Um.
I'm also a mom to two girls, Zoe who just
(01:26):
turned fourteen yesterday and Beatrix who was eleven and a half.
And um, yeah, busy working and doing holiday movies and
all that kind of stuff too. So there's a few
places you can find me my podcast as well. You know,
I'm kind of all over the place. I love it,
So I obviously I just know who you are through
my mom and through Full House and growing up around
(01:46):
all this. But then I also went before coming on here,
I wanted to do my research and have some facts,
um what I thought was really interesting. And I was
listening to another podcast you did actually, and you were
talking about being adopted and how later in life you've
kind of accepted that now and you're like, it's it's
it's a positive to you, but maybe when you were
a little bit younger, and for other kids that have
(02:08):
been adopted, like feeling like, I don't know if unwanted
is the right word, because obviously I'm not adopted, so
I don't want to put into your mouth. No, it's
a it's a definite it's a it's a you know,
this weird feeling of rejection that you that you oftentimes
can't heal, that you can't find you know you you
don't know the reason you can't find the person. Sometimes
(02:29):
that beginning of your life is sort of a mystery.
And I think for everyone that feels that would feel
really strange just not know, you know what that little
beginning period of your life really was. Um. But for me,
like coming through that and and becoming a mom myself,
and like figuring out that just because you become a
mom doesn't mean you'd stopped becoming a human who has
(02:51):
to make really tough life choices for themselves. Um. It
just changed a lot of things for me. And how
old were you when you were adopted? You were really Yeah,
I was like just around a year old, So it
was you know, I don't have like a long history
of life without my parents that I know. Um, but
you know, there is there's a lot of stuff that
I just will never know, right, And you're okay with
(03:15):
that now, Like, yeah, I mean I I've gotten to
the place where I'm like, you know, what if for
some reason information falls in my lap or I find
out something cool, but I no longer feel like I
don't know who I am. And I think that's really
what it was, is I once I really started getting
more secure and who I was, it was no longer
the search for what external thing made me who I was.
(03:38):
It was more like, oh, no, I know who I am, right.
And so my mom actually, when I told her you
were coming on the podcast, she was explaining to me.
She was like, Jody has a really act, a very
interesting story, and she was explaining to me that you're
somehow your your your parents, the people that have adopted
you have some correlation to your birth parents. Is that
corre Yeah? Yeah, yeah, well my so, my my add
(04:00):
sam Um. I adopted Dad his ex wife who he
had three adult kids with, uh W. When they adopted me.
She was my biological father's aunt, and so I've come
(04:21):
to stay at her house. I was staying at Rose's house,
my dad's ex wife, and and he would go over
there to check on her and check on the house that,
you know, make sure things were working right or whatever
is still around that family. And Um saw me there
and my parents really wanted to have kids, and um,
they were having some struggles and and so you know,
(04:42):
it wound up that they were able to adopt me
through sort of through that chain. So yeah, it's an
interesting story and I think actually is a story that
happens a lot, but people don't really talk about it
because I think there's like this weird sense of shame,
um if there's like an inter family a option. But
I think, you know, I think that in her family,
(05:02):
adoption happens a lot. So I like sharing my story
now because I think more people were like, oh my gosh,
me too, and it doesn't feels isolating and weird and
like outside of the norm totally. And then so you
were fourteen months essentially when you were adopted, and then
at what age when you could talk, did you know
you wanted to be in like the show business world
and in this industry or how did that come about?
(05:24):
I mean, I really did. I grew up. I was, Um,
I was a pretty bright little kid. Um like you know,
not to be like obnoxious about and stuff. But I
was like reading full books. By the age of about
three and a half. You could set pretty much anything
in front of me and I could. I could read
just about anything. I loved reading. I was a voracious reader. UM.
Memorizing dance music, all of that was what I absolutely loved.
(05:48):
And I would tell my mom that, Um, I wanted
to be a modeler, which was what I called people
on TV. UM. And so I started doing like little
print work, you know, in Orange County, down in like
South l A where we lived, and um, I was
in dance recitals. But like I remember being in my
first dance recital dressed as a cabbage patch kid. Just
(06:09):
picture that form, gigantic bonnet, very eight oh so so
eighties dance moms like sparkly. It was just amazing. Um. Anyway,
so our dance recital, I was in the second row
and the girl in front of me. I was like,
she's just not doing it right. So I sort of
(06:29):
wedged my way up into the front, was like this
is how it's done. And I think it was that
moment that my mom was like, you know, maybe she
likes to perform. I think maybe she can handle it. Yeah,
And I started doing like commercials and little things like that.
But because I, you know, I could pick things up
really quickly. UM, I just started working a lot, and
(06:51):
I was doing a ton of commercials and stuff, and
then I did, um, Valerie. I did an episode of
Valerie and then got cast as Stephanie. Because the producers
on when you were on Valerie weren't the same producers
on Full House, right, Yes, they were Bob Boyette and
Tom So Miller Boyette and also Rich Correll, who wound
(07:13):
up directing a ton of Full House episodes, who I'm
very dear friends with. Um, he was a producer on
Valerie at the time. You know, there was a lot
of people that I've known since I was four years old,
and I did that Valerie appearance and that was how
I got cast to Stephanie. I never auditioned or anything. Um,
it just sort of fell in my lap and and
the rest is history. So I also feel like you
(07:35):
can tell just from Full House and your rolling like
as Stephanie, you were definitely a very bright child because
you were so like just the way you talk at
such a young age, literally like five years old, you
can tell you're so so bright. Um. Yeah, of course,
I mean that's just I feel like a given to
anybody because it's such a loved character obviously, but also
I feel like you can see like a little bit
(07:55):
of your personality as well, because when you're that young,
I feel like naturally part of you half to shine
through absolutely, Like I you know, there are definitely times
when I look at, particularly getting to come back and play,
you know, Stephanie as an adult, where I was like
the line between Stephanie and me is, you know, is
very fuzzy sometimes because I'm like, she has so much
(08:18):
of me in her, or is it that I have
so much of her in me because I became her
at five? Like I don't know, but we're definitely like intermeshed.
(08:42):
Do you like being known like best known as you know,
Stephanie from Full House? Because I remember when my mom
was doing a lot of homework stuff, she was never
upset if anybody would come and be like, you're in
Packy from full House. But when she was doing the
Hallmark movies, I remember She's like, damn. I wish like
people would say, like you're on one calls the heart
or whatever it is, right, I mean, you know the
(09:03):
there there, It's it's a blessing and a curse. And
I think in a way I've grown through it and
grown to accept it. I think at some point when
I was young, there was some resentment about it and
like absolutely wanting to shed that image. UM, and I
think sometimes I did some really self destructive things to
do that, and as I grew up and like grew
(09:23):
out of it. Like I had an experience the other
day walking down the street over here with my fiance
after lunch, and this girl a little younger than me
stopped me and she just said, Oh my god, I
have to tell you what an incredibly important part of
my life you are. Like you are so I I
grew up watching you. You were always my favorite, Like
I watched it with my mom and my grandma. You
(09:45):
have no idea what you mean to me, and like
I follow you, I look like, thank you so much
for just like what you do and who you are.
And it was the I was taken aback, Like I
was incredibly moved by this experience, And it had to
do with the fact that I'm so well known for
this character that like people have watched it their entire
(10:06):
lives and it means something incredibly important. And I've now
come to this place where I really appreciate that. Um,
I'm glad that that I get to bring that to somebody,
you know, and now do I wish I had other
opportunities or that people may take me seriously as doing
something else? Absolutely, I know I can do a lot more, um,
(10:30):
but you know, sometimes I just have to make the
choice of like, okay, but what you know, what do
you want to do? Do you want to like fight
and you know, only try and do what you want
to do, or do you want to just lean into
the fact that you make people happy with me in
this person? So? Yeah, yeah, it is such a big blessing.
And you were So you started out five on Full
House and then how long? How long did Full House run?
(10:53):
We had eight seasons? So how many years? Is that
eight years? Well? Roughly? Yeah, roughly eight years because we
would shoot like nine months um out of the year
and then we usually have like a little bit of
spring and early summer off and then we come back
like around July. Got it. So when you were done
with Full House? Was that like a really weird transition
(11:15):
period because I can only imagine being that young and
being around the same people so often and like building
these relationships with producers and like not being a completely
normal kid where you have kids around all the time.
In a normal school, like you're hanging out with like
Bob and John and my mom and Canvas, and like,
what was that like when it was over? You know,
(11:35):
I look at it now and I realized it was
a big loss. You know, at the time, I think
it I didn't realize, and I don't think I considered
or gave myself enough credit for UM going through such
a big loss at that age. It was the loss
of everything I'd really known growing up. I mean, I
(11:56):
don't have many memories from before doing Full House and
before these people were in my life, and a lot
of my memories have to do with traveling with them,
being on set with them, going to events with them,
like they are so they are my family because they
are what I knew growing up, Like they surrounded me.
(12:19):
And so it's like, it's such a weird experience to
um to have that and then suddenly lose it. It's
like being separated from your entire family, and you know
that I could only imagine what that's like, but it
was like a sudden disconnect. Did you and roll in school?
(12:39):
I actually went to school. I went to school in
the mornings and then rehearsed in the afternoon and then
we because we worked four day weeks, I would have
Monday off all day, I'd go to school. Um, Tuesday
and Wednesday I went to school and tell lunch, and
then I would drive my mom would pick me up
because I've lived in Orange County and drive to Set.
I've learned my lines in the car and then like
(13:01):
do homework in the car on the way home. Um.
And then Thursday and Friday I was schooled exclusively on SET.
So I did have like a foot in normal life,
So it wasn't quite as much of a shock. Um,
but you know, it felt like it just felt really
different all of a sudden, and and you certainly didn't
(13:21):
just blend in, you know what I mean. And so
I think it was it was this weird time in
my life of trying to figure out who I was,
but also to just blend into everyone else completely because
I just wanted to be normal. Yeah, you know, so
it was it was hard, It was no, it was
a it was a big loss. But um, like coming
back to Fuller House and getting to do that again
(13:43):
as an adult and getting to understand it in a
different way was like such an incredible gift. So yeah,
I feel like that's also such a testament to like
how impactful Full House was, the fact that like, like
shows don't come back that often. And I remember when
it came back, I said to my mom, because I didn't,
I don't think, well, obviously I wasn't alive when you
(14:04):
guys were all filming full House, and then I don't
think I ever really had an understanding of like how
big the show was until I started my YouTube channel
and I knew a lot about like YouTube views, and
I saw the fuller House trailer come out on YouTube
and I saw the views it had, and I ran
into my parents room and I was like, wait, mom,
was full House like a massive show? Like why does
(14:25):
this new trail so many views? Yeah? And she was
like laughing, She's like, yeah, that's a pretty big show. Um.
And speaking of that, actually, I kind of want to
know because obviously, when you guys were filming full House,
there wasn't social media. It was a completely different world,
Like people didn't see into your personal life. People felt
so connected to your character. But do you think there
(14:46):
was like when you guys were out and about, was
it like mayhem where people were coming up to you
and it was a crazy, crazy thing at the time,
or is that like, yeah, yeah, it was wild. I mean,
and I think, you know, as a kid did it.
That's like a weird way to grow up, you know,
people following you into the bathroom and passing a note
under the door to be like will you sign this
(15:08):
for me? And you're like, this is really kind of
a bad time for me. I don't get touching your
pen right now? Bro? What is wrong with you? You
know what I mean? Um? And so growing up with
that spotlight I mean and that you know, Yeah, there
were times like I go to the mall. I'll never
forget Oh my god, this was such a great one.
I'll never forget it. I was probably nine or ten
(15:29):
years old and someone came up to me in a mall.
I think it was like a meat and Greek thing
that you know I used to do all appearances or whatever,
and they came up and they just touched me like
that and they were like, oh my god, you're real,
Like it was what out what? What? What? What do
(15:51):
you expect? Like? And it was just a real moment
where I was like, oh, people see me as this
thing that exists only here, but like me as a
person is doesn't really exist for them and it was
just like a weird realization. So yeah, but it was
it was crazy. I mean I had to get snuck
(16:12):
out of a mall in Iowa once because um, a
mall appearance attracted too many people and um, it was
a mess, so wild. I think. Also, what's so special
about Full Houses? Like how close the whole cast was,
like genuinely and even being at Bob like Bob's memorial recently,
it's like the love like that fills the room when
(16:34):
it's all of you guys together is so genuine. Why
do you think that was? Because I feel like most
shows and even friends that I have now that are
on TV shows with other cast mates around their age
and stuff, it's not like that. Like what made that
so um special? I don't I truly, I know it
was the people, But the fact that those people all
(16:57):
came together at that time in their lives is amazing
to me. I mean, there I always say like there
was some sort of magical thing that happened with Full House,
with the cast, with the crew, with our producers. It
was more than just a show. Um, it really was
a family amongst all of us and you know, in
(17:20):
in large part that was do we we had a cast,
and we had adults on a cast who included the kids.
We were not just these like, you know, annoying things.
We were the kids that they joked around with in
between takes. And you know, I would spend time with
(17:43):
Bob's family on weekends and they were, you know, changing
the twins diet like somebody would change the twins diaper
my mom or you know, our teacher. Like it was.
It was just a family unit. And I am so
incredibly grateful for it, becaus I just gained this huge
(18:03):
family of people that I know love me like no
matter what, you know, no matter whatever happens, our differences
are whatever, Like we just genuinely love each other and
no matter what happens, we will always show up for
each other. Yeah, it's so true. And you have two
kids now and Bob obviously playing your dad on the
show and having like John as the uncle and Dave
(18:24):
and everybody around that was a bit older. Do you
feel like you not like maybe learned parenting tips, but
like do you feel like that is like something that
you remember and like it connects to how you parent now?
You know, um, in a way like when I think
back on it, like I remember, I remember Bob just
being really inclusive of his kids, like they he and
(18:48):
he didn't talk to them like they were idiots like
he really and he and he did the same with me,
like he treated me with respect, um as a young person.
And so did John and David, Like I under stood that,
you know when I had kids, like you can joke
with them, you can have real conversations, and I, you know,
my my mom taught me that too, like I and
(19:09):
I think, I don't know, I just think they they've
also brought a level of humor to my parenting. Um
that my kids are also inheriting, which is you know,
both good and bad. Uh. Yeah, it's uh, it's definitely
a challenge. Sometimes I'm like, not in front of Grammy, please,
(19:29):
oh my god, don't do that. But yeah, I learned.
I learned a lot from them, and I and I
continue to. You know, Dave is an amazing dad and
his son, I mean, Luke is so successful in what
he does. And you know, it's all of our extended
family too, like those are my you know, my my
nieces and nephews and my cousins and my you know,
but I grew up with Do you have any like
(20:07):
funny stories on set that stand out? I mean I've
heard a million and the thousand. Every time I'm around,
somebody always has something to say. But anything you can
think of off the top of your hat, and then
we can move on from Full House. Okay, there is
there's one story, and I know we've told it before.
I don't know if the guys have told it. But
we had this director, joel's Wick, who was fantastic and
(20:30):
directed a ton of episodes of Full House, but he
was tying of like a small statured man, and he
would get really frustrated and like he was great until
he just lost it. And you know, Bob and John
and Dave would push things. Particularly Bob and Dave would
push and push. They were the kids that just wanted
(20:52):
to test the boundary and like keep going and keep
sucking around and what um So anyway, uh that was there.
There was a time, an incident whatever the guys were
screwing around and Joel lost it and was like that's it.
Everybody up to the green room. Everybody up there. And
(21:13):
so everybody went up there, like the kids, the adults
and we're all like sitting around the stable and he
walks in and he's like, hey, it's not the kids,
they're actually doing well. I'm talking to the adult. And
it was like we got kicked out of the room
so that the adults could get in front. Like I
was just like, wow, okay, jeez, got you know, like
(21:35):
it was just really funny, um when the adults were
the kids exactly exactly and around, and I became that
adult that was just screwing around, and I inherited that
that gene was Fuller House. Do you feel like, I mean,
I think it's different obviously because there were kids on
Fuller House too, Like did you feel like then you
(21:57):
were like in Bob or Day or John or my
Mom's position for these kids. Yeah? Absolutely absolutely. And you
know what, in a big way, the way that John
and Bob and Dave and your mom treated us as
kids and as young people, as young adults really I
think had an effect on how we treated the kids.
(22:20):
We knew how to treat these kids with respect, We
knew how to get them to do their jobs, um,
and we knew how to have fun, you know, and
we knew how to include them and stuff and how
to make it feel like the family. Um, and I
really do think that's in large part two, how we
were treated. We knew that's how it should be. It
should be a family, you should actually genuinely care about
(22:42):
each other and spend time together. So that was that
was a huge influence. And I'm assuming when they came
and said we're going to do Fuller House, there wasn't hesitation.
Everybody was like, yep, on board, right, Oh well, we
were actually in the rooms pitching the idea of meet
Candice in any way. I don't know that stays along
with Jeff Franklin and Bob Boy we were in on
all the pitch meetings. Um. So it was really our
(23:04):
our you know, John and Jeff and the three of
us had really you know, been fighting for this for
a long time. So yeah, it was great. It was great.
And then you went to college. So what was that?
Like you were famous on full House doing all this
stuff and then like you're going to be normal and
go to school. I went, Yeah, I went to high school.
(23:27):
The show I did when I was thirteen, so I
went right into high school after that, and then I
did graduate high school, and I um, I was doing well,
I wound up going to Chapman University UM, and you know,
that was at the point when I really started struggling
with some of my addiction and all kinds of stuff. UM.
And so for me, the college experience, it was you
(23:49):
know a lot of um falling down and getting back up.
But I managed to graduate. You know, it took me
like a semester longer because my first semester was not
pretty uh and you know, I wanted graduating with the
uh bachelor's in Liberal Studies with an emphasis and elementary
education and history minor. And I sort of tried to
(24:12):
enjoy just being just having that normal life for a
little while. You've been pretty open with like addiction, right,
you talked about that publicly. I don't want to ask
any questions if it's about and definitely, you know, and
definitely given me the perspective of life that I that
I have UM. And I think, you know, the openness
(24:34):
has really helped a lot of people. So I was
gonna say that when we share our stories, I think,
you know, it not only loses the fear that we
have in people finding out our secrets, but it also
allows other people to realize that their secrets maybe aren't
so isolating, right, I think that it's that's so true obviously,
Like especially in my age. I feel like my demographic
(24:56):
is quite close to my age, like early twenties in college,
going through all this stuff, being introduced to different drugs
and alcohol and stuff like that, and it can be
like a really hard time for so many people because
I feel like a lot of people don't know like
how addictive some of these substances can be, and so
it's like funn in games until it's not. Um, how
did you? How did that all happen for you? Like,
(25:21):
I mean, you know, it was a journey. It was,
like I said, like I spent a lot of my
not only college but twenties just sort of like climbing
the mountain and then tumbling down the other side, but
getting up and climbing in again, you know, And it
was um uh gosho from eleven uh. It's been like
(25:41):
eleven years. My sobriety is eleven years ago, my official one.
But I haven't had alcohol or any like crazy drugs
or anything like that. Other it was muscle relaxers that
I took. Um. Other than that, I've spent like fourteen years, um,
since I've done any of that. And you know, I
I as a person who I thought that was just
(26:04):
who I was, that it was a part of who
I was. Um, it was a part of my self worth.
There was you know, there was a lot of things
that played into it, um. But I look at it
now as just someone who was trying to deal with
a lot of hurt um and had nowhere to put it.
And so I think I judge myself a little bit
less too, you know, and I um and as I've
(26:25):
been able to do that, it has allowed me to
open up a little bit more and not be so
afraid of other people's judgment. I'm like, I really don't care.
I'm giving time for it um And and connected me
with some really amazing, wonderful people, And I, you know,
hope that being open and honest about who I've been
and who I hope to become and I'm still working
(26:46):
on is a journey that we're all on. So yeah, totally.
Was there like a breaking point where you're like, Okay,
I need to be sober or is it something that
like somebody else in your life was I mean, I
had those moments over and over and I think until,
like you know, until you really all of a sudden,
oh okay, like I get it. I get it now.
(27:08):
Just exactly what this is doing for me? And why
why I I abuse this? Why I you know, I
am searching for something? Um. And you know, ever since,
those moments kind of all lined up and eventually I
just decided that it was easier to go heal the
pain than keep creating more. So, UM, yeah, you know,
(27:31):
I'm so grateful for the place that I am in
my life today and I and I've become grateful for
a lot of the hard things that I went through too. Right,
what's like the one thing that you think you've learned
just from being not only in the public eye, but
going through a lot, coming out clean, being sober, being
a wonderful mom to your two kids? Like, what's something
(27:52):
that you would teach them or something that you're constantly
telling your own kids that's like so important to you. Um,
there is no perfect, There is no perfect, don't It's
an unattainable you know illusion that you can spend your
(28:13):
entire life chasing trying to be the perfect mom, trying
to be the perfect girlfriend, you know, actress. Um, whatever
it might be like I just have to be perfect
and that doesn't exist, and it's something that we create
and then we judge ourselves by it. And I've just
learned that, Okay, I'm just doing the best I can.
(28:33):
Like I'm I'm just trying, and sometimes that best is
not great, and sometimes there's three days. Um, but like,
don't get too hung up on the idea of perfect
because it's it's impossible and it only makes you feel worse.
So well, I will definitely take that advice in my life.
Thank you. I know you have another interview. I'm being
(28:55):
told we have to wrap it up. Um, I do
want to plug the show Beyond the Edge, Yes, and
April the Worst cook starts. You want to talk about
that really quick before you have to go. You know what,
Beyond the Edge was amazing, talk about another incredibly pivotal
time in my life. I'm not kidding. This was a
life changing experience for me. Um, going out there and
surviving in the jungle. Um, you know you you watched
(29:18):
the show and I just wish the physical pain, like
you could feel what it felt like out there. Um,
it was one of the hardest things I've ever done
in my life. Is it out. Yes it's uh. The
fourth episode airs tonight, uh on Wednesday's nine pm. I
think tonight is at ten pm, UM, but yeah it is. UM.
It's a pretty incredible journey that I am forever grateful
(29:39):
for because it really changed a lot of my perspective
on things. UM. And then Worst Cooks was really fun. Um.
I am not a great cook, but I'm great ordering
take out. Yeah. So I was really excited for the
opportunity to play for Girls Inc. For both of these shows, UM,
which is a really wonderful organization that builds up wrong
(30:00):
powerful leadership and young women. UM. And I got to
learn how to cook and be taught by professional chefs.
And let me tell you, that's this stressful. It is
a lot to take in and it's super stressful. UM.
But I I was really proud of myself. I'm proud
that I took on that challenge of something that I
didn't think I was good at. I like to challenge
(30:22):
myself to do I think I might not be able
to do and be like, why don't you try it?
Just see. Yeah, that's how I fought with Dancing with
the Stars. I'm like, I don't know if I can dance,
but I'm gonna try and see what happen. It's you
know what, why not like? And and again that's kind
of the you know, there is no perfect, there's no like.
Just go for it, just try and do it if
you can and be on the edge. Has also really
(30:44):
tapped into that spirit a lot and been able to
kind of show who I am and so I'm really
grateful for that. Um, but yeah, it's been a lot
of fun. I've been. I've been very busy and shooting
two other holiday movies that I just finished last week,
and um, that's awesome. It's been really busy. I'm gonna
be hopefully directing some soon as well. So um, yeah, amazing.
(31:04):
I'm happy to hear your booked and busy, and thank
you so much for coming on, Jody, and I hope
I see you soon. I'm about to talk to you.