Jodie Sweetin Opens Up About How She and John Stamos Have Supported Each Other Through Sobriety — and What She Said Will Move You

Jul 22, 2026 by apost team

Jodie Sweetin and John Stamos have been part of the same television family for nearly 40 years. They met when Sweetin, born Jan. 19, 1982, was cast as Stephanie Tanner on "Full House" — the ABC sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1995 — and Stamos, born Aug. 19, 1963, played her Uncle Jesse. They continued working together on the Netflix revival "Fuller House," which ran from 2016 to 2020, and have remained genuinely close long after any professional obligation to do so.

What most people watching them on screen in the 1990s did not know was that they were also, quietly and separately, fighting to stay sober. And that the bond forged on that sitcom set would become one of the most meaningful supports either of them would find on that journey.

Sweetin first drank at the age of 14, at co-star Candace Cameron Bure's wedding in 1996. Her addiction deepened through her late teens and into her twenties — documented in her 2009 memoir "unSweetined" — and she struggled with multiple relapses before achieving lasting sobriety on July 9, 2011. She has not had a drink since.

Stamos took a different path to the same destination. He was arrested for a misdemeanor DUI in Beverly Hills in 2015 and checked into a substance abuse rehabilitation program shortly afterward. He wrote about the experience in his 2023 memoir "If You Would Have Told Me." He has been sober since 2015.

On the July 15, 2026 episode of "The Dory Jackson Interview," Sweetin spoke about what sobriety has meant for their friendship — and said something that explained everything.

"John and I really, really connected in a lot of ways over that,"

Sweetin told host Dory Jackson. "He presented me with an award several years back for some of the work that I'd done. We have been there to celebrate each other's big successes and milestones."

The award she referenced was the Experience, Strength and Hope Award presented by Writers in Treatment — an honor Stamos presented to Sweetin at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in 2019. According to Fox News, Stamos choked back tears during his introduction of her, describing her impact on his own sobriety. "This is Jodie's legacy," he said.

In the July 15 interview, Sweetin reflected on the principle that has guided her approach to recovery advocacy. "I am so glad that I got to be an example of attraction rather than promotion, which is a big principle in recovery," she said.

"Don't beat people over the head. Just be the result of all of your work, and chances are, people that are looking will find you."

She was asked what sobriety has actually given her. The answer was characteristically direct. "You get the opportunity to become a different person," she said. "And once you start actually liking that person, it becomes really hard to go back and continue destructive behavior."

She also described what sobriety has done to her sense of possibility. Being sober since 2011, she said, has been "very freeing" — "seeing what I'm capable of" and "becoming a different person that I actually like."

Two people who played uncle and niece on a sitcom for eight years found something far more real to hold onto afterward. They are still holding onto it.

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Are you a fan of Jodie Sweetin and John Stamos? Do you think their bond through sobriety is one of the most moving friendships in Hollywood? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and anyone who needs to hear a story of resilience today.