Loading summary
Transcript433 lines
- [00:01]
Jodie Sweetin
Tough to believe. Domino's has never had stuffed crust pizza until now, right? Well, it's here and it's delicious. It's stuffed with melty cheese, baked with melty cheese and sprinkled with garlic seasoning and real Parmesan. Yep, that's even more cheese. Order Domino's new Parmesan stuffed crust pizza for $10.99 each. When you mix and match two or more items, price is higher. For some locations, you must ask for this limited time offer. Prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. Delivery orders subject to local stores. Delivery charge, two item minimum. For additional terms and conditions, visit Domino's.com.
- [00:41]
Kale
Welcome to the show. Things are going to get weird. It's your fave villain, Kale, and you're listening to Barely Famous. Today I have a special guest with us on Barely Famous Podcast. You may recognize her from Full House, Fuller House, or maybe one of her Lifetime movies. Jody Sweeten is here for Barely Famous Podcast. All right, Jody, thank you for joining us on Barely Famous Podcast.
- [01:15]
Jodie Sweetin
Absolutely.
- [01:16]
Kale
And you're promoting your new movie. Do you want to talk about it? So dateless to Dangerous, and it premieres June 21st on Lifetime.
- [01:22]
Jodie Sweetin
Yep, Lifetime at 8pm 7 Central. And yeah, I'm really proud of it.
- [01:26]
Kale
Okay, well, let's talk about it. I don't know anything about it. Obviously, it's not the 21st yet, so tell me about it.
- [01:32]
Jodie Sweetin
So the movie is stateless to my son's secret life. And it is about sort of. Well, not sort of, but it is about the incel culture that we're really dealing with right now. And a lot of the really toxic masculinity and racism, misogyny that are taking hold of different corners of the Internet. And I play Noelle, who's a mom who's kind of going through a separation with her husband at the time. And she got two teenage kids, Miles and Hayley. And Miles is really struggling. Dad's out of the house and he's kind of struggling to connect, find friends, find his place. And he, you know, gets rejected by a girl and things just aren't going his way. And he starts kind of finding in the gaming community and in the online, you know, manosphere sort of thing. Really, really dark and uncomfortable and misogynistic, racist. Just the thing, the worst things that we see on the Internet and we're seeing it happen more and more. And so this really addresses, you know, I think a lot of times we have seen them as, you know, the school shooters or the sort of disaffected Young men. And we're seeing it just more and more often, and that's really what this movie was about. And, you know, having teenage daughters myself, I was, like, really interested in bringing this to life.
- [02:55]
Kale
So is that what sort of drew you to want to audition for this?
- [02:58]
Jodie Sweetin
They actually sent me the script, and I read it, and. And I was really interested in it. One, because I think it's an incredibly important topic that we need to address, and two, because I was just excited to be able to, you know, do something so different than what people have seen me do before.
- [03:15]
Kale
How was it different than doing, like, sitcoms or.
- [03:17]
Jodie Sweetin
It's. I mean, it's different in every way.
- [03:19]
Kale
Yeah.
- [03:19]
Jodie Sweetin
But it's. It's nice because I love performing, I love acting, I love doing comedy, but I also love doing stuff that's a little bit darker and more along the lines of stuff I watch, because I definitely don't watch sitcoms and things.
- [03:32]
Kale
Yeah, you don't watch sitcoms?
- [03:34]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I don't.
- [03:34]
Kale
Oh, my gosh.
- [03:35]
Jodie Sweetin
What do you watch a lot? I watch a lot of weird documentaries and. Yeah, I don't watch a ton of television.
- [03:43]
Kale
Okay, fair.
- [03:44]
Jodie Sweetin
I read a lot of books. I'm a nerd.
- [03:46]
Kale
Oh, okay. What's your favorite book?
- [03:47]
Jodie Sweetin
Ooh, there's a whole series of books by an author, a Spanish author named Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and he wrote an entire series of books called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. And it is an incredible journey through Civil war era, like, 1930s Spain. Okay. And. And it's got elements of, like, sort of that magical realism and like some dark kind of gothic tones, some historical fiction. You know, I love it. And he's an incredible writer.
- [04:17]
Kale
My friend Emily and I also run a book club, so we're big book girlies. And actually just had a couple authors here yesterday, so that's exc. I didn't know you'd read.
- [04:25]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. Yeah.
- [04:25]
Kale
What do you remember about growing up in la and you still live there?
- [04:29]
Jodie Sweetin
I do. I still live there. Growing up in la. I remember when you used to be able to get from Orange county to LA in under an hour. I remember the days of less traffic. That's what I remember. But no, I mean, I honestly, I remember the joke is always. I remember, like, reading a Thomas Guide, like, the paper maps as a kid, because my mom would be taking me to auditions all over la.
- [04:51]
Kale
Yeah.
- [04:51]
Jodie Sweetin
And. And I was five years old, sitting in the passenger seat, like, all right, we gotta get to La Brea, you know, and looking it up. And. Yeah, I just I remember a lot of time in the car in la, going back and forth to auditions or back and forth to, you know, full house set. Yeah. And we lived, like I said, a little bit outside of la, so it was a lot of time in the car. Me and my mom got to spend time growing up.
- [05:13]
Kale
Did you ever. Did you always want to do Hallmark films or Lifetime movies? Or did or was that just sort of.
- [05:18]
Jodie Sweetin
That was. You know, it sort of came about after I came back and was doing a lot of Fuller House House stuff. And one of the things that Hallmark loves to do is bring back, you know, a lot of fan favorite stars to do their movies. People that, you know, were in the 90s that everyone grew up with.
- [05:35]
Kale
Yeah.
- [05:36]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, it sort of brings that sense of comfort. And I know that Hallmark movies, Christmas movies, rom coms, all that, that's something they definitely like to capitalize on.
- [05:43]
Kale
Well, I think people love a good crossover, and so when they see their favorite, you know.
- [05:47]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [05:47]
Kale
Sitcom stars or whatever it is, you know. Come on. I think I had. Tamara Mowry was. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And she was in a Hallmark Christmas movie, which was cool. And so that makes sense that they would pick people.
- [05:59]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, they pick people, I think, that have that. That have a following. Because one thing I know too, about, like, Hallmark and Hallmarkies, as they call themselves, I think they really attach themselves to a particular star or celebrity of the different movies, and they're just excited to watch anything that they do. So it's, you know, the fans are really great and give us a lot of opportunity to keep having fun and working.
- [06:21]
Kale
Yeah. When you were filming Dating to Dangerous, what was the set like compared with, like a sitcom like Full House or Fuller House?
- [06:27]
Jodie Sweetin
Well, I mean, a sitcom, you're shooting four cameras at once. So a sitcom is more almost like a. Like a. Like a play because you have your live audience or just sort of your camera row so everything faces out like a theater would.
- [06:43]
Kale
Okay.
- [06:43]
Jodie Sweetin
When you're shooting like a Lifetime movie or something like that, they call it single cam. There's usually two cameras, but it is more done in a space like this. So you are setting up different cameras, and then we've got to get coverage of you. So now we've got to move all the cameras and the lighting and everything. When you're doing a sitcom, everything is lit. You've got four cameras, and you're trying to get all the shots that you need of everything that's happening at once. Okay. So single cam world, movie world, is much slower.
- [07:08]
Kale
Yeah.
- [07:09]
Jodie Sweetin
And It's a much different pace than, like, a sitcom. A sitcom is kind of a machine that's running. And like, single cam is like a lot of the hurry up and wait, where you're like, we need you on set right now. And then it's two hours because they're relighting something or.
- [07:22]
Kale
And more in, like, a realistic setting where, like, a sitcom would be.
- [07:26]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, more in a realistic setting or more. What I'll say is like a. Like almost like a 3D set as, like, it has four walls, typically.
- [07:33]
Kale
Sure, sure, sure.
- [07:34]
Jodie Sweetin
Or at least. It's just. You're bringing the cameras in a lot closer. So. Yeah, it's a. It's a different thing. And I directed an episode of Fuller House, so I got to direct a sitcom which is, you know, it's a lot of moving parts to that.
- [07:45]
Kale
Well, what was the difference between acting and directing for you then?
- [07:48]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh, my gosh. Well, I was acting and directing that week, so I was. It was like different hats, but, I mean, I loved it. And I think, you know, it was interesting. What I realized is the second I would stand behind the director's podium and be watching the scene sort of play out and giving notes or whatever, I immediately would start referring to everyone as their character name.
- [08:09]
Kale
Okay.
- [08:09]
Jodie Sweetin
But when I was on the other side and in the scene with everyone, it was like I referred to all of them by their normal name. And it was almost like when I took myself out of it, it became distant. You know what I mean? It became more of like a tableau that I was playing with and directing. And then when I would be in it, I was like, oh, no, no, now I'm in this. So. Yeah, but it was. I mean, it was a lot because it was a very heavy step episode. There was, you know, quite a bit of scenes that I was in. So it was a lot of kind of running back and forth. But I like doing that stuff. I like to keep my brain over occupied.
- [08:43]
Kale
Well, sometimes that's how we have to do it.
- [08:45]
Jodie Sweetin
Yes.
- [08:46]
Kale
But through all of it, whether it's sitcom, lifetime, anything, do you ever run into people calling you by your charact name instead of your name?
- [08:53]
Jodie Sweetin
All the time.
- [08:54]
Kale
Does that bother you?
- [08:54]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I don't. No. Because I also know that, like, most people have grown up seeing my face and associating it with the name Stephanie.
- [09:01]
Kale
Right?
- [09:02]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I don't care.
- [09:02]
Kale
It's no resentment.
- [09:04]
Jodie Sweetin
No, no. I get to do what I do and continue to do it 37, 38 years later because people fell in love with Stephanie, like, I'm not mad at that.
- [09:13]
Kale
Oh, I love that I call people.
- [09:14]
Jodie Sweetin
That I've known my whole life by the wrong name. So they've never met me before. What do they know?
- [09:20]
Kale
Do you ever talk about your childhood and how you were raised and being adopted?
- [09:24]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [09:24]
Kale
Okay, can we talk about it a little bit?
- [09:26]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was adopted before I even remember. You know, I was like, 14, 15 months when it was finalized. But I, you know, I spent my first Christmas with my mom and dad that I adopted me. So I've really always known them as my parents.
- [09:41]
Kale
Right.
- [09:42]
Jodie Sweetin
But I, you know, I always talk about being adopted because one, I think, particularly in the 80s and prior to having a lot more open discussions about reproductive health and IVF and all these things, being adopted was kind of a thing that people didn't really talk about. It was kind of like, you know, there was not a shame to it, but it was like, oh, that's not your real kid. And people would say. People would say, oh, that's your adopted kid. That's not your real kid. That's your real kid.
- [10:09]
Kale
Right.
- [10:09]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, and I think my parents just never really wanted that. And they also, you know, never wanted everything about my life history coming out at 5 or 6 years old when I had no control over it.
- [10:20]
Kale
Right.
- [10:21]
Jodie Sweetin
But, no, my parents were always very open about me being adopted. And, you know, I think once I had. Once. Well, I know that once I had kids of my own, particularly my older daughter, and was still kind of struggling with trying to get my shit together and get sober, I had a whole different experience and realization of sort of the fear and the. And all of the things that go into why someone would give a child up for adoption.
- [10:52]
Kale
Sure.
- [10:52]
Jodie Sweetin
And it had nothing to do with the baby. You know what I mean? And it wasn't until I was the parent and realized, like, oh, this is all my own stuff, you know, that. That I was, like, dealing with. And I suddenly was able to give that sort of consideration to my birth mom at the time of, like, oh, yeah, your life was a mess. Like, this had nothing to do with me. In fact, you. This was the best thing you could have done for me.
- [11:17]
Kale
Sure.
- [11:18]
Jodie Sweetin
And it, you know, it just gives you a little bit different perspective. And I find that talking about being adopted, so many people like, oh, my gosh, me too. And immediately it's. There's a. There's a link, and there is a connection, and there is. So, you know, there is something different about being adopted and knowing that you're in your family and you love your family, but that at the same time, people like, oh, you look just like your mom. And you're like, do I? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, you know, or the assumptions that people make like that. And you know, oh, did you get that from your mom or your dad's side? And you're like, I don't know.
- [11:49]
Kale
So growing up, did you always know who your birth parents were?
- [11:52]
Jodie Sweetin
I didn't know them. They. My, my, my birth father was in prison when I was born and he was actually killed in a prison riot in Soledade prison when I was about nine months old. And then my birth mom was in jail when I was born in L. A And so she gave birth to me at USC county hospitals where they take all the female inmates. And she had. So my biological dad's cousins were my adopted dad's children. Hold on. I know I need to. I always say I need to draw like people like, oh, so he's your uncle. I'm like, no, he's not my uncle. So my dad's ex wife.
- [12:35]
Kale
Okay.
- [12:35]
Jodie Sweetin
My adopted dad's ex wife.
- [12:36]
Kale
Okay.
- [12:37]
Jodie Sweetin
She was my biological dad's aunt.
- [12:41]
Kale
Okay. So you are related.
- [12:44]
Jodie Sweetin
So weirdly, I'm not related. So I'm not related technically to my dad by blood or anything. And he was. And they were right split at the time, but technically I am related by blood to his kids.
- [12:55]
Kale
Oh.
- [12:56]
Jodie Sweetin
Because.
- [12:57]
Kale
Oh my gosh. Yeah.
- [12:59]
Jodie Sweetin
So it's interesting because I do have some information and some connection about my birth dad that I've been able to ask. But you know, my parents also didn't know them like very well.
- [13:15]
Commercial Voiceover
I have way too much free time. Said no one ever. Work, appointments, family and friends. Life is non stop. And trying to find a new place on top of all that, completely overwhelming. That's where apartments.com comes in. If you want to make time for the things you love, but you still need to find your next home, apartments.com has tools to make your home search so much easier. And it's all on one site with 3D virtual tours to get a peek at a rental listing, online tour scheduling, plus the ability to see the exact unit you're interested in and apply for a place with one click. Renters can handle it all on apartments dot com. Whether you're looking for a three bedroom condo downtown, a two bedroom duplex in a quiet neighborhood, a cozy studio in a walkable city, or even a single family home in a cul de sac, you can find a place that checks all the right boxes. So whichever stage of life you're in, settle down in your perfect home by using apartments.com. make your move from the comfort of anywhere and make more time for you. Join the millions of happy renters and visit apartments.com the place to find a place.
- [14:16]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, again, it was a different time. So it was like, you know, you knew you were adopted, but we didn't, it wasn't like, let's not tell anybody.
- [14:21]
Kale
Right?
- [14:21]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, but yeah, I always knew who, you know, I knew that I was adopted. I knew I was, you know, that I didn't grow in my mom's belly, but I grew in her heart, that kind of stuff. But it wasn't until I was like maybe, I don't know, 11 or 12 that I started finding out kind of all of the backstory information about my mom and dad being killed and, you know, all this kind of stuff that, that, you know, you don't really tell, like a seven year old.
- [14:44]
Kale
Right, right, right. But you were on TV at that time. So how much of your childhood or your knowledge of your childhood or, you know, where, where you came from shaped your life at that time?
- [14:55]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, I. Probably more than I know. You know, I think, I mean, I, I was, I did some thing with attachment style the other day and they were talking about, you know, some of the most formative times in your Life, the first 18 months of your life. And so I think a lot of the maladaptive skills, shall we say, that I had for dealing with pain and trauma and uncomfortableness were sort of stemmed from that first bit of life when it was insecure and there were different people coming in and out. I didn't have that secure attachment and all that kind of stuff. And all I knew about my biological parents was that they both struggled with some addiction issues. And, and so I think there was also a weird part of me that. Because that was kind of all I knew about them when I was younger. It was almost like a weird connection to them.
- [15:46]
Kale
Okay.
- [15:47]
Jodie Sweetin
And I knew the second that I started drinking, like I was not like other people, but I was like, oh, but I'm like them. You know what I mean? So, yeah, there's. And as you're 14, 15 year old, you're. You don't know who the hell you are anyway. And then add that on and add on being on TV and all of that. It was, you know, it's been a long journey of self discovery.
- [16:06]
Kale
Even now I'm sure today you're still.
- [16:08]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, yeah, I, I mean that's kind of the whole point of this whole life thing is you keep growing and digging in there. But at 43, I am much more secure and happy in myself than, you know, ever. 20.
- [16:22]
Kale
Yeah, I would imagine. Yeah. But you started acting when you were five.
- [16:27]
Jodie Sweetin
I was about four when I started acting, like, four and a half.
- [16:29]
Kale
Did you just go to your mom and say, hey, I want to do this? Or how did that come about?
- [16:33]
Jodie Sweetin
So I started out in dance when I was about three. I loved it. I also was a very early reader. I was reading at 3, and so, you know, I was able to read scripts and, you know, read books and things like that. I loved performing. I was very animated. And, you know, people would always tell my mom, like, oh, she should do commercials or something. And my parents had zero interest in the business, zero connection to the business. Like, my parents were not the people that were like, we want you to be famous, so we're included. My mom would be like, absolutely not. Do not point the camera this way.
- [17:06]
Kale
Yeah.
- [17:07]
Jodie Sweetin
And, yeah, you know, I started doing it at, like, at 4, but it became about. Because I told my mom I wanted to be a modeler, which is what I called people on tv, and I started doing dance and, like, my first dance recital, when I sort of wormed my way up from the second row into the front, because those bitches weren't doing it right. You know, I got up to the front, and my mom was like, maybe we should put her in. So she seems to really like this. And, yeah, I just always loved it. I loved performing. I did commercials, booked a ton of commercials, and then did a guest appearance on another sitcom that was the same producers that would eventually do Full House, and they had Full House in development. It was just kind of an idea at the time. And they were like, that's Stephanie Tanner. And I got cast from doing that one episode of Valerie with Jason Bateman and Valerie Harper. And, yeah, I got cast on Full House from that. And then everything else is just sort of history.
- [18:07]
Kale
Were you able to live a normal life and go to public school just like other kids your age?
- [18:10]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I. I sort of went back and forth, but our producers were really. I mean, our set was such a great place to grow up, and it was such an anomaly in sort of the world of child stars. You know what I mean? We had such a close, connected cast and crew. Our producers, everybody looked out for the kids, loved the kids. It was not. We were never looked at as, like, commodities. It was like, what's in their Best interest. And then let's try and figure out how we can work around that. And so for me, you know, I, they were able to let me go to regular school three days a week. So Mondays we didn't work after like the second season. We had a four day work week. Tuesday through Friday, Mondays I'd be in school all day. Tuesday, Wednesdays I would be there till lunch. And then Thursday and Friday I was school on set. So I got kind of this hybrid thing. But I went to a public school in Orange County. Nobody else was in the business. I had normal friends. I still to this day, like most of my friends are not in this business. If they are, they're like crew. Cause we're crazy actors. But I, you know, it's, I just like life was very normal. Other than this thing that I did that other people watched and I never watched the show. I didn't care. I wasn't impressed by it, like being on tv.
- [19:23]
Kale
Yeah.
- [19:24]
Jodie Sweetin
So for me it was just very normal.
- [19:26]
Kale
That's so interesting. And you don't have the same experience then as some of the actors on like quiet on set and stuff. So how does that.
- [19:32]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh God.
- [19:33]
Kale
Now how do you, I guess empathize with them? Because obviously it didn't happen to you, but that doesn't.
- [19:39]
Jodie Sweetin
It didn't happen to me, but I, I know plenty of people who it has happened to. And I also know that like, maybe it wasn't, it wasn't painful, it wasn't an uncomfortable situation. But being a working child actor comes with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of shit that gets put on your shoulders that I don't think you really kind of pick through until you're a little bit older. And you know, I wouldn't change anything. I love what I did, but I definitely am like, oh yeah, there's, there's a lot to being a child actor that is placed upon, you know, sort of the shoulders of very young people. And I'm really glad for some of it. I have an incredible work ethic from it. I love it. I've. I get to do what I love to do. But it's also like. Yeah, but at six years old I knew, like, you don't get sick days. You, you know what I mean? You gotta get up. If you, if you're not feeling it today, it doesn't matter. You've got 250 people that are counting on you and you've got shit you gotta do.
- [20:34]
Kale
Right?
- [20:34]
Jodie Sweetin
And so you, at a very early age learn sort of, okay, my needs Come second to what has to get done. And that does. That isn't always great because then you continually put your needs to the back burner, right? Because you're like, oh, that just feels normal and comfortable.
- [20:49]
Kale
But you didn't know any different either.
- [20:51]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I didn't know any different. And you know, again, like, my parents were very normal. Our producers tried to make it the most normal experience possible, but, you know, it is. You're working, but there's no bad days.
- [21:03]
Kale
You said there's no days off, but there's probably no meltdowns. You can't have meltdowns. You can't.
- [21:07]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. And I wasn't that kid. Anyway. The only time I ever got upset, my mom still talks about it and I joke about it with Jeff Franklin, our creator and executive producer. There was like some dream sequence thing that Stephanie was doing. And there were costumes.
- [21:21]
Kale
Okay.
- [21:22]
Jodie Sweetin
I love a good costume. And there was. They custom made this like very 1930s, 30s, 40s, Busby Berkeley sort of turquoise satin gown with like boas at the bottom. And I was dancing, so I was loving it and I loved that dress. But in the dream sequence, I. Then there's like another part of it that's like a little sort of hot pants, cute, like little onesies, sequined outfit. I didn't like that as much because it didn't twirl. And so I was like, I don't know, seven, eight. And they were like, hey, you have to change out. And I was like. And my mom was like, you gotta do it, you know? And it was the first and only time that I was like, But I really like this outfit. Usually I was like, yeah, whatevs, I don't care. And for whatever reason, I was real stuck on that. And I think because it was. They created it for me, I got to go to the wardrobe department at Sony Studios, which was where they did wizard of Oz and all, you know.
- [22:16]
Kale
Yeah.
- [22:17]
Jodie Sweetin
And I was like, this is cool. Like, this is so important. But that was like the only time that I really ever. And our producers were like, you've gotta go change. We have. This is. You know. And he pulled my mom aside, was like, I can't have an 8 year old, like freaking out and we gotta do it. And she's like, I know, Jeff, I'm trying.
- [22:32]
Kale
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [22:32]
Jodie Sweetin
And now we joke about it. He's like, I wasn't mad, but it was like, we gotta work schedule, you know?
- [22:37]
Kale
Yeah, yeah. Did you get to keep the dress?
- [22:39]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I didn't get to keep the Dress.
- [22:40]
Kale
Oh, damn.
- [22:41]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I didn't get to keep the dress, but that's okay. It was all stuff like that they keep for wardrobe. Like, technically not supposed to take anything with you, but we would fair.
- [22:53]
Kale
You're like, if I really like something.
- [22:54]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. If we loved something, our wardrobe people would give it to us. Back in the days when, you know, shows had money.
- [23:00]
Kale
Well, cables. Cable is weird now, so I feel like cable streaming.
- [23:03]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [23:04]
Kale
Yeah.
- [23:04]
Jodie Sweetin
Can you do it all for $5?
- [23:08]
Kale
But through all of this, you still decided to go to college.
- [23:10]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [23:11]
Kale
When you graduated high school, so what was the deciding factor for you? You were like, I'm an actor, but I still want to go to college.
- [23:17]
Jodie Sweetin
I'm a big nerd. I love learning. I love school. I would probably be going to school for something right now, getting my master's in something, if I weren't doing this. I. I don't know. Maybe I will someday. Who knows? But no, I. I always. I always loved school. I was always really good at school. And, you know, the show ended right after, like, my eight. Right around my eighth grade year. And so I started high school and went to performing arts. High school, did musical theater and. And really loved that, but was like, okay, well, I'm. I always planned to go to college. That was always the thing. I didn't know what I wanted to do or what I was going to do. But, yeah, that was always something that I wanted to do, and I like learning.
- [23:59]
Kale
And you had a little bit of a break between when you finished Full House and you went to college, but did it still feel like a break?
- [24:06]
Jodie Sweetin
I did. I never really walked away from the business entirely. Even when I wasn't working consistently, even as an adult, it was like, I never was like, oh, I don't want to do this anymore. It was like, well, I'll leave the door open, but Bill's got to get paid.
- [24:18]
Kale
Right.
- [24:19]
Jodie Sweetin
Time to get a job.
- [24:20]
Kale
Yeah.
- [24:20]
Jodie Sweetin
And, you know, there was some time in between, but I did, you know, episodes of. I did, like, four or five episodes of Party of Five with Lacey Chabert, and I did a show called yes, Dear. And, you know, I did, like, bits and pieces on different things, but really just was kind of enjoying, like, the normalcy of going to school and just being there every day.
- [24:45]
Kale
Yeah. No, that makes sense.
- [24:46]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. By the time most other kids were like, I hate school. I'm here every day, I was like, oh, my God, I get to go every day.
- [24:50]
Kale
You know, you kind of live the best of both worlds, right? Because you got to still do what you love, but also go to school and live a normal, normal life.
- [24:57]
Jodie Sweetin
And I, and I also realized, you know, as I got older and, and got my ADHD diagnosis and all of this stuff, I was like, oh, I actually was set up for success in a way that I didn't even understand at the time because I would always get in trouble talking, getting up, passing notes. I could like, I, I would get all the work done. But I was like, oh my God, this is so interminable. Why are we still here?
- [25:20]
Kale
Yeah.
- [25:20]
Jodie Sweetin
And I'd be talking to friends and always in trouble for that.
- [25:23]
Kale
Yeah.
- [25:24]
Jodie Sweetin
But getting the work done two days a week with a tutor, it was like it was me and a teacher in a classroom. I'd be tipping back in the chair. She was like, can you do your math please? You know, But I got attention and tutoring and one on one focus and it really helped. So I learned like this whole sort of set of skills that I don't, I think I would have really struggled with in school had I not been sort of doing this hybrid thing where I got, got some one on one focused attention and normal school environment stuff.
- [25:54]
Kale
You guys know I can't stop talking about Haya. These are children's vitamins that get shipped directly to your door. And I'm obsessed with them because my kids get to decorate the little jars that they come in. And most children's vitamins are filled with 5 grams of sugar and can contribute to a variety of health problems. But Haya is made with zero sugar and zero gummy junk and it tastes good even for the pickiest eaters like Creed. Haya actually fills in the most common gaps in modern children's diets. To provide the full body nourishment our kids need to grow. And they're formulated with nutritional experts. Haya is pressed with a blend of 12 organic fruits and veggies, then supercharged with 15 essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, B, 12C, zinc, folate and so many others to help support energy immunity, brain function, mood concentration, teeth, bones and more. But the best part of all of it is that these are non gmo, vegan, dairy free, allergy free, gluten free, nut free and everything else that you can imag. I have a couple kids in my life who are allergic to so many things and Haya is perfect for them. I absolutely recommend checking out their new kids probiotic and nighttime essentials too. I've actually worked out a special deal with Haya for their best selling children's vitamin. You'll receive 50% off your first order. And to claim this, you have to go to hi, health.com famous. This deal is not available on their regular website. So if you go to h I y a h e a l t h.com/famous and get your kids the full body nourishment they need to grow into healthy adults. Oh, well, that brings me to my next question. Was there anything that stuck with you from your education specifically? But I think you just answered that with the one on one. I think it's so important, especially, you know, for kids that have ADHD or any sort of.
- [27:34]
Jodie Sweetin
Both my girls. Both my girls have it. And I was like, I would score higher on any of these questions than they would. I think it's me, the calls coming from inside the house, you know. But it. It, I think, is one of the things that actually made me really successful in this business.
- [27:53]
Kale
Yeah.
- [27:53]
Jodie Sweetin
Is being able to do multiple things at a time and being. Enjoying being busy and going and, you know, being able to focus on a bunch of different stuff at a young age. Like, that actually worked really well for me.
- [28:05]
Kale
Yeah, it did. Did you think growing up that you would still be acting in your 40s.
- [28:10]
Jodie Sweetin
Or did you know what? I. I never really thought about it. Like, I'm still, to this day, people are like, so what's your plan for the next 10 years? I'm like, I don't know. Do we ever know some people have plans? I am not a planner person. I am. This is not how I live my life. Obviously, more divorces later, but I, you know, or three divorces in a marriage, four marriages. I'm just not. It's not how I, like, operate. I'm like, I don't know. Life is weird. Who knows where it'll go?
- [28:34]
Kale
Yeah.
- [28:34]
Jodie Sweetin
But I, you know, I knew that I love to do this. I knew that as long as I get opportunities to do it, I will keep doing it. I love every aspect of this business. I have such admiration and love for Cruise and the art of doing anything in entertainment. It's just. It's fun. It's a weird little group of, like, a. This carny family that you sort of travel with. And it's fabulous, you know.
- [29:02]
Kale
So you directed an episode or episodes of Full Fuller House?
- [29:07]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. Yeah.
- [29:07]
Kale
Would you ever direct a Lifetime movie?
- [29:10]
Jodie Sweetin
Absolutely. I would love to. Yeah. I would love to get back to directing more. It was a really wonderful opportunity. And I found. I just really like, again, having 9,000 things going on. And, you know, I was like, oh, this is my Happy place, little controlled chaos.
- [29:26]
Kale
Yeah, I love that.
- [29:27]
Jodie Sweetin
But I do. I love it. I love creating, and I love working with actors. And as a director, you know, that's one of the most important things that you're doing is really working with actors. And having been on the other side of it, you're like, I know what works. I know it doesn't ask questions. Don't you know all those kinds of things that you just get from being on the other side of it? But, yeah, I would love to direct more. That's kind of where I want to go. I don't always want to be in front of the camera.
- [29:52]
Kale
I would imagine it would be nice to be on the other side.
- [29:54]
Jodie Sweetin
I want to get tattooed and just do it. Well. I'm very tattooed on places you can't see. But, like, I. You know, I'm like, that's. I just, like, at some point in my life, I'm like, I don't. I don't need to be the face of stuff, but I love creating. So would.
- [30:11]
Kale
If you got tattoos on your arms, would that prevent you from getting.
- [30:14]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, I have a couple here now.
- [30:15]
Kale
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [30:15]
Jodie Sweetin
Do you have, like, one on my back, I got one big thigh piece. I've got both ribs done. I got my low back. I got. Yeah. Slowly. I'm running out of space. Yeah, yeah.
- [30:23]
Kale
But if you had them visible, would it prevent you from getting a roll somewhere? Would they cover it up? Or how does that work?
- [30:28]
Jodie Sweetin
Cover it up? They. I mean, now you can cover up with airbrush and all the stuff, but it's more that. It's like, do you want to spend two hours every day covering up your tattoos when you already have to come in two hours early for hair and makeup? Like, do I want to come in at 4:30 in the morning to cover all that up, or do I want to go. You know, I'm gonna give it time until maybe my hallmark careers or lifetime careers, you know, gone through a little bit and I'm behind the camera, then.
- [30:53]
Kale
We'Ll do it, you know, I guess that makes sense. Yeah.
- [30:56]
Jodie Sweetin
But I basically, I'm like, I just. I. I love this business, and anything that I can do to continue creating, whether it's. Whether it's directing, writing, comedy, doing standup, performing, you know, all of it, I just. I love it.
- [31:08]
Kale
What were the biggest differences from filming Full House as a child and then filming Fuller House as an adult?
- [31:14]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, definitely having more creative input, which was so cool. You know, as a kid, you're. It's Just kind of like, you do what's written, but, you know, and getting to come back to characters that had been part of us for so many years. You get to fill in the blanks in between, you know, and, like, you don't usually get to do that with a role. Like, you never go away for 20 years and then go wonder what the hell she's been up to, you know, and we got to do that. And, yeah, it was. That was really different, was getting to have a voice and, like, a voice in how we wanted scripts to go, what we liked, what we didn't like. It definitely gave me a much greater sense of how to stand up for myself and how to say what I wanted and, you know, say, this is. This is what I'm doing. This is not what I'm doing, or whatever. And it. Yeah, it was. And it was also really cool to be the adults now in a situation, working with young kids in the business who this was also kind of their first time and being like, dude, I get it. I've been there.
- [32:19]
Kale
Yeah.
- [32:19]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, and I connected with the kids really well. And particularly Elias, who played Max on the show. You know, he was a hyperactive little boy, and so sometimes he would be just all over the place. And I was like, bro, look, come here. You wanna go home? I wanna go home. Yeah, chill out. Let's do this and let you know. And he'd be like, okay. And he'd get it done and get it done. And it's like. But there was a nice understanding and relating to, like. I know it's a long day, dude. Yeah. And you've had to do school, like, it sucks.
- [32:49]
Kale
Yeah.
- [32:50]
Jodie Sweetin
And I felt really glad to be able to offer some of those, you know, it was, like, advice and, like, understanding and comfort and, you know, full circle.
- [33:00]
Kale
That's really cool, is that you have the same wiggle room in a Lifetime movie that you do for, like. You said that for Fuller House, you sort of had a say. Did you? Do you get to.
- [33:08]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, you know what I do. I often wind up either producing or executive producing a lot of most of the movies that I do. And, you know, at this stage in the game. But I do get more input. And it's also, you know, as an actor, as you get older, when you're a kid, you're like, I don't know. I'm just having fun. Like, as an actor, when you get older, you're like, oh, yeah, no, I'm breaking down a character. I'm, like, thinking about stuff. And so A lot of times something will be written and you're like, I just. That's not who she is.
- [33:33]
Kale
Yeah.
- [33:34]
Jodie Sweetin
And they listen. So it's great. And I. I love collaborating, rewriting, do, you know, like, working to create the best, most authentic things possible, even if it's something that's not super serious or whatever. You know, this project, you know, the Dateless Dangerous, happens to have a much more serious tone. But, yeah, I like. I. I just like to be able to work with others and have input and talk to the director and the writer and the producers and be like, how do we. This isn't working. How do we make it work?
- [34:03]
Kale
Yeah. How does it feel knowing that you can do all the things like you can do the sitcom and you can do the Lifetime movie and you can do something serious and you can do something funny?
- [34:11]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, I. I love it. Like I said, I love performing, entertaining, bringing human connection to life on screen or in the theater or whatever. Yeah. I mean, I sing, I dance, I act. I just. I love it. It makes my. I never feel more at home than I do when I'm on set.
- [34:33]
Kale
Do you ever. Does Jody ever seep into any character roles that you're playing or vice versa?
- [34:39]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh. Jodie and Stephanie are very, very close in who they are, partly because as a kid, they sort of wrote around what. Who we were as kids. Like, oh, cool. You know, Stephanie was a dancer because they were like, what's your special skills? And I was like, I can dance. So it. It makes it much easier to make a kid who is a dancer a dancer than, like, you're going to do karate.
- [35:01]
Kale
Yeah, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [35:03]
Jodie Sweetin
So, you know, there was a lot of who we were as people sort of tied into our characters. But, yeah, you know, Steph and I are very similar in some ways.
- [35:15]
Kale
Do you ever feel like you were typecasted? Is it called typecasted when you're like, okay, I'm Stephanie and I can't go anywhere else?
- [35:21]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh, for sure. I mean, when I first ended the show, you know, I really wanted to do other different stuff. And I was in acting classes and, you know, loved performing and would go out on things that were more serious or dramatic or whatever. And, you know, oftentimes you'd walk into a room back when you walked into a room to audition, and it's not self tape, it's all self tapes anymore. You don't see any humans. Oh, it sucks. But you would walk in a room to audition, and they'd be like, oh, my God, I Love you on flop. Can you say how rude? And you're like, I should just leave?
- [35:51]
Kale
Like, maybe this was a bad idea.
- [35:53]
Jodie Sweetin
I don't. Obviously, you can't see me as anything else. And, you know, for a while there, I think actors, when you get known as something, you're like. Like, you love it, but you're also like, but I. There's so much more. There's so much more. And, you know, I think that it took a little while, but it also. I was glad I got a little bit of time to kind of walk away. And, you know, even as an adult, I worked in drug and alcohol treatment for, like, six, seven years. I kind of walked away from the business and loved that and found a whole other skill set of things that I'd never even attempted to do or thought. You know, I was director of operations and doing logistical planning for, you know, a staff of 120 people. And all of that stuff came in really handy when I went back and directed. But it was stuff that I never thought of, like, you know, and I was just happy. I'm like, cool wherever I am. I'll bloom where I'm planted. I'll have fun. And. Yeah, so it was like, coming back to do all of those things was. It was a real learning experience that kind of all of your life will come together sort of. At one point.
- [36:56]
Kale
When you took a break from the business, what was the deciding factor for you?
- [37:02]
Jodie Sweetin
I have bills to pay. I had two kids and bills to pay.
- [37:04]
Kale
And, you know, was burnout part of it at all?
- [37:06]
Jodie Sweetin
Just like, no, no, because I hadn't been. When I was young, I was still continuing to audition and do all that. I never, like I said, I never really walked away and was like, I'm not doing this anymore. It was like, well, I'm not auditioning as much. And now I have kids and I can't, like, just drop everything, you know, whenever I want. So how do I find something else that I'm good at that I love? And, you know, I went into mental health care and drug and alcohol treatment, and I loved it. I would probably still be working on my master's or, you know, doctorate or something in that field.
- [37:39]
Kale
Right.
- [37:41]
Jodie Sweetin
But it was more so that it was like, okay, so, like, we gotta get a job.
- [37:46]
Kale
Yeah.
- [37:47]
Jodie Sweetin
And, you know, I started at the bottom. I was, like, making 10 bucks an hour, like, you know, washing dishes and, like, emptying trash cans and stuff while I was in school. And people be like, are you. You know who you look like? And I was like, yeah, I'm here. They're like, why are you here? I was like, like, why. Why wouldn't I be like.
- [38:01]
Kale
I was about to ask you that. I feel like I'm working, even myself. Like, I don't feel like I could leave this world and, like, go work.
- [38:09]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [38:10]
Kale
At, like, a restaurant or something, because I wouldn't even know where to. How to. Where would I start? So how was that for you?
- [38:15]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, you started the bottom. You work.
- [38:16]
Kale
You were just like, it. I'm gonna go do this.
- [38:18]
Jodie Sweetin
I don't. I have zero ego about any of it. Like, I don't care that I was on tv. I don't think that there's anything special about people who are in front of the camera. And I was like, I. I gotta get a job.
- [38:30]
Kale
Yeah.
- [38:30]
Jodie Sweetin
Why wouldn't I? Okay. I'm not gonna walk in and expect to go into an entirely different field and be like, because of who I am, I should start ahead of everyone else. I was like, no, I gotta start at the bottom and prove myself just like anybody else. And people were shocked by that. Yeah, of course.
- [38:45]
Kale
I think I would be shocked by that.
- [38:47]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. It was also kind of a trip, though, because people were coming in and they're, like, newly detoxing, and then they're like, wait a minute.
- [38:53]
Kale
Did you.
- [38:54]
Jodie Sweetin
Am I really. Am I really up? Are you the girl from Full House? And I was like, no, I am.
- [38:58]
Kale
Yeah.
- [38:59]
Jodie Sweetin
They're like, God, I thought I was having some sort of a, you know, like a detox dream. And I was like, no, no. I mean, you might be, but also. Yeah.
- [39:07]
Kale
Did you ever read about yourself? Like, would people post about it and did that ever, like, freak you out that people would see you working at, you know, the Detox Center?
- [39:15]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, I have had exes sell stories about all manner of things, and I'm like, I don't care. I don't. I don't care. There's nothing.
- [39:22]
Kale
How do I get there?
- [39:25]
Jodie Sweetin
How old are you?
- [39:25]
Kale
33.
- [39:26]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh, girl, you got about 10 years. It's true, though. But I also. I was just like, why am I going to let someone else's perception of what I should or shouldn't be doing or what my status in life should or shouldn't be because of something I did as a kid? It just didn't make sense to me. Like, who cares? Yeah, just go get a job. Do what you got to do.
- [39:53]
Kale
Yeah.
- [39:53]
Jodie Sweetin
And I loved it, and it was fun. And I. Yeah, I, you know, 10, 12 bucks an hour, like, I was making, and I'm not making a ton of money, but it was something.
- [40:01]
Kale
Yeah.
- [40:02]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, stand on your feet. I was like, okay, this is what we're doing.
- [40:05]
Kale
Oh my gosh.
- [40:06]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [40:06]
Kale
And you have been married four times, is that right?
- [40:09]
Jodie Sweetin
I have. I have my, my, my husband, Mescal, now. This is it. As. I'm too old for this shit. But I. No but I. But truthfully, like, it. It took all of that and again, a lot of self discovery, a lot of digging through my own stuff to figure out who I was and then who I was in relationship to other people.
- [40:32]
Kale
Yeah. So what was that like, trying to figure that out?
- [40:36]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, it was three divorces and very messy.
- [40:39]
Kale
I have four kids, dads. So I got similar.
- [40:43]
Jodie Sweetin
I get it. Yeah. Yeah. It's. It's not. I get it. And I guess I, having grown up in this business and having people always have made assumptions about me going to school that like, oh, she must be stuck up, or oh, she must be. This I had to learn at a very early age. Like, I can't base myself on what other people think of me because it's not true. And so I think in a lot of ways I was just always very determined to be like, I'm just gonna do me.
- [41:12]
Kale
Yeah.
- [41:12]
Jodie Sweetin
And screw what everybody else thinks. And. And yeah. And so I just kind of have lived my life and it's been messy sometimes and it hasn't been pretty, but I've done a lot of work. Like, I've done a lot of digging and a lot of therapy and a.
- [41:26]
Kale
Lot, you know, same.
- [41:27]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. And. And I'm like, so grateful for it though, you know, and people always ask like, oh, would you. Do you regret it? Do you? I'm like, look, are there things that like, you're like, I am so sorry that I did that to somebody. Absolutely. But I don't think think I would change it or that I regret it because even those really painful, awful, ugly things I had to look at in myself. That's exactly why I am so comfortable with who I am today.
- [41:51]
Kale
Yeah.
- [41:51]
Jodie Sweetin
It was because I went, oh, wow, you can be a real. Let's look at that, you know. And then suddenly you're like, oh, it's not what's so scary? Okay, So I made a mistake. Like, big deal.
- [42:01]
Kale
Yeah. My therapist said that their impact and influence are different than traumatized being traumatized. And one of the things that I always read is like, my relation, my track record, we'll call it, in relationships is going to traumatize My kids. That's what I read most about myself.
- [42:16]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, me too. And I'm like, oh, cool.
- [42:17]
Kale
Do you think that it. Do you think there was trauma in there? Do you think it was more important?
- [42:21]
Jodie Sweetin
Definitely not from, you know, I. I've had several exes who were incredibly emotionally abusive to me. And I, you know, tried to protect my kids from that as much as possible. And they weren't, you know, my kids, dads or anything. But I'm sure that there's. I mean, you can't help but go through life and be affected by what goes on around you. I don't know if there was any trauma. I mean, trauma is also a relative term. What traumatizes one person is also. Can also be very normal or like, sort of overlooked by someone else.
- [42:54]
Kale
Yeah.
- [42:55]
Jodie Sweetin
So I don't know. I hope not. But I know that one thing I've always done is talk very openly and honestly to my girls. Even when I've made a mistake or when I have, you know, we've had to go through something that hasn't been easy. I'm like, I screwed up.
- [43:08]
Kale
Yeah.
- [43:08]
Jodie Sweetin
This is. But I'm really. But we're gonna make it through. And I've got you, you know, and.
- [43:12]
Kale
I think that's different from how we grew up. Like, we didn't. Maybe I can't speak for you, but I didn't grow up with parents or adults apologizing to kids.
- [43:18]
Jodie Sweetin
No, not at all.
- [43:18]
Kale
So that's different.
- [43:19]
Jodie Sweetin
Not at all. Yeah. And I think, I think, you know, I don't ever apologize to my kids in a way that, like, I need their permission.
- [43:27]
Kale
Right.
- [43:28]
Jodie Sweetin
But I apologize to them when I know I've been wrong.
- [43:31]
Kale
Yeah.
- [43:31]
Jodie Sweetin
And that happens all the time. It happens all the time as a parent when you snap at your kid or you tell them like, absolutely not. No, you're not. And you walk out and you're like, why did I say that? And you're like, oh, I'm stressed, I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed. I'm. This has nothing to do. It had nothing to do with them. And I'll walk back and be like, I'm sorry I snapped at you. This has nothing to do with you. Let's talk. What was the question again? You know, or whatever. Or months later, I'll be like, yeah, I handled that really poorly. And that's all I hope is that my kids learn that you can be wrong, make a mistake, take and move on.
- [44:04]
Kale
Yeah. No, I've actually seen, like, in my 7 year old, he'll Calm down. And then he'll come talk to me because that's something that he's seen me do. But speaking of your girls, have they expressed any interest in acting?
- [44:15]
Jodie Sweetin
My younger one, yes. So my, my 17 year old is much more of an athlete.
- [44:20]
Kale
Okay.
- [44:20]
Jodie Sweetin
When she was younger, she was a little more like kind of into the performing stuff, but as she's gotten older, she's been a little more like, nah. But she is an athlete, really great soccer player and. But my younger one is she has the performance bug for sure. She's in a performing arts school program, musical theater. And she is, and I'm not saying this just because I'm her mom, she is an incredible singer. Like, she is. She's really impressive. Like, I saw her do something recently and I was like, you know when you don't see your kids practice at home and you're like, oh no. I knew she could sing, but I was like, how this is gonna go well? And literally the audience was like, like she sang Last Midnight from Into the woods and absolutely nailed every note in it and killed. And I was like, oh, so then.
- [45:08]
Kale
What do you do? Does she want to go to auditions? How would you support her?
- [45:11]
Jodie Sweetin
Well, right now she's happy where she is. She likes going to school, she likes having a normal thing. You know, there were times because she was like this, when she was four or five years old, she got up. I remember one of our first tapings of Fuller House got up and sang Katy Perry's Roar in front of the entire audience and like nailed five. Yeah. And she just, she loves it.
- [45:36]
Kale
Yeah.
- [45:37]
Jodie Sweetin
I though saw in her that she didn't have that thing that you need as a child star, which is that you are willing to put your needs or whatever you want in the moment aside for the longer term goal.
- [45:51]
Kale
Okay.
- [45:52]
Jodie Sweetin
And so I was like, that's not who you are. I'm not going to make that who you are. Enjoy being a kid. You've got all the time in the world to be in the business and the business is very different now than it was. You know, I. To be a kid in this business with social media these days, I don't know how to do it and I wouldn't, I really don't. It was hard enough to not have that stuff and grow up in that world. And I can't imagine having to put yourself out there like that and, you know.
- [46:18]
Kale
Because of the scrutiny, you mean, or.
- [46:19]
Jodie Sweetin
Because, I guess the cruelty, the constant pressure of having to be relevant new. What are you posting? What are you Doing, like, it's. It's a lot.
- [46:28]
Kale
Yeah.
- [46:28]
Jodie Sweetin
And that is what people's careers rely on now, particularly young people, you know.
- [46:33]
Kale
And it goes away so fast.
- [46:35]
Jodie Sweetin
Like, so fast. And so you're constantly like, I need to. I need to do more. I need to do more. And I'm like, I'm not putting.
- [46:39]
Kale
Sounds like me, actually.
- [46:40]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, I get it.
- [46:41]
Kale
I.
- [46:41]
Jodie Sweetin
Look, I am notorious for being like, you lazy piece of. You need to do more. You know, I'm like, I'm doing seven jobs.
- [46:47]
Kale
That makes sense, because I feel like the urgency maybe in the 90s, wasn't. You don't have to worry about what you're doing between filming seasons or tapes.
- [46:54]
Jodie Sweetin
You have to worry about something. You had to worry about tabloid reporters.
- [46:58]
Kale
Okay.
- [46:58]
Jodie Sweetin
But you didn't have to worry about someone taking a picture of you on your phone or of you posting something stupid in a drunken stupor. You know, like, there's just. And as a young person, like, you make so many mistakes. You're so dumb. And now you have the opportunity to share with everyone just how dumb you are.
- [47:18]
Kale
Yeah.
- [47:18]
Jodie Sweetin
And we should all have the space and freedom to go be dumb and learn things when we're young and work through it and not have to do it on a public stage. And now it's celebrity or not, your life is ruined if you say something or do something that a lot of young people do. Stupid things.
- [47:39]
Kale
Sure. And if you don't post it yourself, someone else will post it.
- [47:41]
Jodie Sweetin
Exactly. Someone else will post it. I'm glad I did all my stupid partying. Right. In the days the cell phone cameras were just coming out, like, the BlackBerry could take a fuzzy photo. You know, I'm like, ooh, missed that.
- [47:56]
Kale
You struggled with addiction yourself while under the public. In the public eye.
- [48:00]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, not when I was like. Not when I was a kid. Kid, but like, in my 20s. Yeah. And, you know, because people know who you are, it never kind of goes away from it being in the public eye. And also anything that you go through because you're in the public eye, people just want to pay attention to it, regardless of if it's something that. That millions of other people are dealing with, somehow it becomes more sensational, and it must have to do with the business. And you're like, no, not this. I. And I always say, like, I would have struggled with addiction issues regardless of being on TV or not. And to be fair, that gave me some of the ability to be able to get. Find treatment and find help in ways that I might not have had I not worked as a child.
- [48:42]
Kale
Right.
- [48:44]
Jodie Sweetin
But it's hard, you know, you don't. You have to make all your mistakes very publicly. But yeah, I, I just like looking back on it now, I'm like, I'm glad I did it then.
- [48:54]
Kale
Yeah.
- [48:55]
Jodie Sweetin
And not in these later years.
- [48:57]
Kale
What was, what was the, where was the line for you where you were like, okay, I do need treatment, I want to get treatment. And then also just like essentially rebranding or getting your career back, what was that like for you?
- [49:08]
Jodie Sweetin
Well, I went to treatment in my early 20s and I had gotten, I had been sober before that I had, you know, I got sober the first time at like 18. It was, it was an up and down day. It was a lot. And you know, as a young person, you're like, I'm never gonna have any fun again. You know, and so I had kind of ridden that wave a little bit. And then when I went to treatment, the story came out. Someone basically sold the story that I had been in treatment. So the choice was sort of taken away from me. Whether or not I get to come out publicly about this, it was, okay, this is out there publicly. How do you want to deal with it? Do you want to hide from it or do you want it? Are you just going to face it and be like, here we go? I chose to just face it because it's not going to go anywhere. And the more you try to not talk about something, the more people want to talk about it.
- [49:53]
Kale
Right.
- [49:54]
Jodie Sweetin
So, you know, after that happened and you know, kind of everything got blown up, I was still really struggling with getting sober and, and having to navigate all of that. You know, in my early to mid-20s, on top of the fact that people still know you, so they assume things and you're. We're a child star, so they're like, oh, you're one of those fucked up child stars. And yeah. You know, and you're like, no, I'm just a regular person. I'm just a regular person. You know, I, I lived in a neighborhood that was, you know, middle class neighborhood, and there were five other kids in that neighborhood who either went to jail for drugs, OD'd in their house in our neighborhood. You know, nobody knew about them.
- [50:34]
Kale
Right.
- [50:35]
Jodie Sweetin
But it happens all the time. And you know, I always say that because I'm like, it doesn't have to be someone famous. This happens all the time.
- [50:45]
Kale
Right.
- [50:46]
Jodie Sweetin
So I just felt like, okay, well, I guess then I'll talk about it.
- [50:49]
Kale
Right. And so you did. And then how, what Was it like getting, you know, going back into acting after your final treatment? Going to treatment?
- [50:58]
Jodie Sweetin
Well, I mean, I had gone to treatment in my twenties, and then I had kids, and then I got sober, and then I got drank again, and then I got sober. You know, it's been up and down, but it's been, God, 16 years since I've drank alcohol and 13 years since I relapsed on meds with a car accident that I was in medicine. Pills were never my thing. And then they prescribed me Somas for. Which is a muscle relaxer for some. I was like, oh, this is fun. But, yeah, I, you know, getting back into acting, it was, it was hard for a little while because it was, you know, again, the only thing that people wanted to talk about. So it was. There were times I was like, oh, why didn't I just keep my mouth shut? Why didn't I just say I don't want to talk about it? Because now it's all that people want to talk about. But, you know, through it, it, I got to come back to Fuller and, you know, I just never gave up knowing that I had more to offer than just being some salacious story.
- [52:00]
Kale
Yeah. And did you ever have to, like, spend time rebuilding trust with, like, producers or anything because they looked at you differently or.
- [52:06]
Jodie Sweetin
No, no, no, because I never, I was, I. I didn't come to set loaded. I didn't. Well, that's. I mean, hungover, sure, but I didn't. I never screwed anything up. And, you know, when I first was going through all this and I wrote my book, I was doing these speaking engagements about being sober and going through treatment, and I still hadn't gotten completely sober yet. And so I was saying I was this person and I was not, but nobody knew. And, you know, sometimes when you can get away with stuff for a long time, like, like that self loathing is almost worse because you're like, oh, my God, I'm such a liar that nobody can even tell that I'm lying. You know, and it was really hard and it, I felt like, terrible about it.
- [52:52]
Kale
Yeah.
- [52:54]
Jodie Sweetin
And then when my book came out, I hadn't told my speaking agents actually about some of the stories. And then it was in the book, and so they called and they were like, wait, what? And I was like, oh, yeah, I should have told you guys about that. But honestly, since then, I've done more speaking engagements. Same people, they've come back. I. I have great relationships with everyone that I work with. I've. Even my friends that I used to get loaded with. I've apologized. And they're like, you weren't always like a terrible. Like an. You were just insane. And we never knew what. What Jody. We were going to get. And I was like, that's part of my charm.
- [53:27]
Kale
Yeah.
- [53:28]
Jodie Sweetin
So now I'm sober and I'm going to remember it all. Yeah.
- [53:34]
Kale
How much of your. Your past, your childhood, your. Your recovery do you talk about with your girls a lot?
- [53:42]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, my girls. I mean, you know, again, there's no hiding from it. They have access to the Internet. They can Google everything they want about me.
- [53:48]
Kale
Yeah.
- [53:49]
Jodie Sweetin
You know, and. And it's not like their dads haven't told them stuff about me. So it's like, okay, I. I'll be honest, because I also think, like, I know me growing up, I had this idea that my parents had never done anything wrong.
- [54:04]
Kale
Right.
- [54:05]
Jodie Sweetin
And I think parents then, like, we were talking about, you know, we apologize to our kids now, and we have a different relationship. I think parents then it was like, you had to be this sort of this figure in your child's life that was authoritative and knew what they were doing and all that, you know? And so I was like, oh, it's me. I am a horrible person. You know? And as I got older and talked to my mom about certain things, I mean, she was never like I was. But getting to know your parents as people.
- [54:37]
Kale
Yeah.
- [54:39]
Jodie Sweetin
Really gives you a whole different experience of them. And so I'm like, I don't want my kids at 30 to be like, oh, you were this, or you. What was going on? I'm like, let's just talk about it now. Like. And we have a much more open, honest relationship. Look, do I think my kids tell me everything? They're 15 and 17. Absolutely not. I know they don't because I see their social media sometimes, and I'm like, you didn't tell me that. But, you know, I also am like, there is nothing that you could do that I probably haven't already done multiple times and gotten through or gotten myself out of. So, like, I'm not going to judge you. I don't.
- [55:21]
Kale
It does create a different dynamic, I think, between the parent and child when they. They see you as human and not just a parent. Right, right. Because I have that sort of relationship with my oldest son. Like, he just will come to me about anything and everything because I think that he's seen me be human and not just a mom. And some people will say, well, you have to be a parent before you're a friend. I'M not his friend. I'm just a human.
- [55:43]
Jodie Sweetin
Exactly. That's. And that's what I was going to say is like, I still am. Like I'm still the one that sucks and has to be like, no, you can't do this or taking the phone or no, whatever.
- [55:50]
Kale
Yeah, yeah.
- [55:52]
Jodie Sweetin
But it's a different relationship in that they just see me as a person who is fallible and make mistakes, who is trying their best, who's willing to say when they're wrong.
- [56:01]
Kale
Yeah.
- [56:02]
Jodie Sweetin
Those are the things that I want my kids to learn. So that's what I want to exemplify for sure. All of these ways to go about in the world and just nobody's perfect. If you screw up, be like, oh, my bad. Sorry about that. Let me do better. Let me not do that again. Don't just say I'm sorry and then fuck off and do it again. Make your amends. How do we do this? Lot of that Too came from 12 step programs and 12 step principles that I've learned over the years of like just being honest, taking accountability for yourself. Like those are things that I have tried to teach my daughters. That's more important to me. I don't, I don't give a about grades. I don't, I, I don't care if you're going to go to a four year university. I don't, like, none of that matters. I just want to raise good humans.
- [56:43]
Kale
Yeah. And I want them to be good.
- [56:45]
Jodie Sweetin
To themselves and good to others. That's all I care about.
- [56:48]
Kale
When people ask me like what my kids want to do, do. I just want them to be happy.
- [56:51]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. I'm like, I don't know.
- [56:52]
Kale
They could go to college.
- [56:53]
Jodie Sweetin
I'm like, maybe they're gonna go backpack the world. I don't know. Let them have fun. You know what I mean? Like, go live your life. I. None of your life is attached to anything that I need from you.
- [57:04]
Kale
For sure.
- [57:04]
Jodie Sweetin
And I think sometimes parents forget that.
- [57:06]
Kale
You were a dancer.
- [57:07]
Jodie Sweetin
I was.
- [57:08]
Kale
And then you went on Dancing with the Stars. What was that like?
- [57:10]
Jodie Sweetin
Oh my God. It was funny enough up until I did a couple, a show in, in Panama where I lived in the jungle for two weeks. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done physically. And then I really wouldn't live down the jungle. But it was, I mean it. And because I wanted to work really hard. Like I would dance six days a week and there were no days off. And we worked, you know, Easter Sunday, we worked. There was. When you're in it you're in it.
- [57:35]
Kale
Yeah.
- [57:36]
Jodie Sweetin
And you go from, you know, maybe working out to being like, you're gonna do like five hours of intense cardio for every day for, you know, six days.
- [57:45]
Kale
Every day.
- [57:45]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. I always wanted to spend, like, hours a week. It was so much fun, though. And I loved it. Like, I used to go watch ballroom competitions when I was in my teens. Like, I always wanted to do it Any. Any reality show that I've ever done. I've only done like a couple of them. Has always been because it's something that I wanted to learn how to do anyway.
- [58:02]
Kale
Right.
- [58:03]
Jodie Sweetin
And so I'm just getting the opportunity to do it and I'm like, okay, well, sure, I would do this anyway.
- [58:07]
Kale
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was the jungle one?
- [58:09]
Jodie Sweetin
It was called beyond the Edge and it was a show where it was sort of like a Survivor naked and afraid esque thing. We lived out in the jungle on our own for two weeks, and every day we competed in like, crazy, like, Iron man competitions.
- [58:27]
Kale
Would you do that again?
- [58:29]
Jodie Sweetin
Probably. Yeah.
- [58:30]
Kale
Would you do Special Forces? Have you seen that?
- [58:32]
Jodie Sweetin
I asked to do that and I think it was probably like too close to Panama. And I was like, I've done that shit.
- [58:37]
Kale
You're like, come back to the next season.
- [58:39]
Jodie Sweetin
But honestly, I'm like, nah, I'm good. I've done it. I did. And I liked it in the jungle. Jungle is beautiful. I had some amazing moments in the jungle where I. We didn't have our phones and I had a different relationship with my phone and with electronic devices after I came back from the jungle.
- [58:54]
Kale
I'm just like, it changed for you. In what ways were you. Are you just like, putting your phone.
- [58:58]
Jodie Sweetin
I was finally so free of it and so able to be present and in nature and just like in my own self, pushing myself to do things that were hard or challenging, that didn't depend on anybody else in the outside world. I didn't need to comment on anything. I didn't need to read. I. I just came back and I was like, oh. Plus, I got kicked off Facebook while I was back or while I was gone. My personal page. I'm very political and. And so I was like, you know what? Okay, cool. Yeah, that was several years ago. And I just. I'm not as in it anymore.
- [59:29]
Kale
Just that two weeks completely changed. Yeah. What day do you think in that two weeks was like the turning point for you?
- [59:35]
Jodie Sweetin
I remember it clearly. I was standing. It was a day that we. It was so we'd work for, we'd go for like four or five days. And then we would have like half a day off that or a day off that was. We'd be doing interviews and stuff in the jungle like you do for the reality shows. And it was on that day and we were so sore. I mean, I almost drowned at one point doing this long ass swim and all this stuff. And I just remember I was standing there and like our little village area was kind of empty and I just looked up, up and all I could hear was like the ocean kind of on the other side of the little sand dune. And the trees were just this beautiful canopy and there were birds and there were monkeys and I didn't hear any people and I was like, totally not stressed. And it was 2021 and we'd all spent a lot of time on the Internet the year before. And I went, oh, this is what.
- [60:29]
Kale
It was supposed to be.
- [60:30]
Jodie Sweetin
This is different. And I was like, like, I need more of this and dip my toe into the other rather than the reverse of living in that all the time and dipping my toe into like nature and taking a break from it.
- [60:42]
Kale
Oh.
- [60:43]
Jodie Sweetin
And yeah, I just, I, and I guess also it's my age, I remember life before all this crap. Like, I remember when you just used to go out and do stuff and have fun and I hate taking pictures of stuff. So like I just go live life and I'm like, oh yeah, everyone that's like younger than me is like, oh, but you got to take a picture of it. And I'm like, I, I don't. That's not me. Like I live in the age of like, you know, the wind up cameras and half of them would have your thumb over the lens and you were like, oh, well.
- [61:12]
Kale
So you feel like you still hold on to like not going on social media as much or like going, yeah.
- [61:16]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, I for sure. Like, there's definitely. I am, I am a sort of what I call like a drop in post now where like I'll post some stuff. I don't care about the comments. I don't need you to agree with me. I don't need you to like me. I'm very political in what I talk about. So I will post stuff about that and then just be like, okay, I'm out. Bye. You know, because I'm like the, the. I've spent time arguing with people on the Internet.
- [61:40]
Kale
Yeah.
- [61:40]
Jodie Sweetin
And it's just diminishing return. Right. It's diminishing returns now. And I literally notice, I open it up and I'm like, oh my God. I feel so anxious, and I'm like, I'm much better. Feeling like I'm taking action. So I'll dip in there and be like, where's the protest? Where's something I can take action on? Where's something I can learn? And then I'll be like, okay, bye. I'm not reading the comments. I'm not gonna argue. I'm not gonna change anybody's mind, But I'm gonna be who I'm gonna be.
- [62:01]
Kale
And you haven't always been like that.
- [62:03]
Jodie Sweetin
No, I think. I think it took a while to, like, kind of be like, oh. I actually don't like social media all that much. You know, it was really fun. When we first started, we had a great time, everybody collectively. And I think now we just have gotten really away from the connected part of it. And it's just. I mean, it's. You know, it's become sort of AI, corporate bot slop, and we've just become cruel to each other.
- [62:27]
Kale
Yeah. No, I can agree with that.
- [62:29]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. I'm like, I could be mean to somebody in person. I don't need to do it on the Internet. You know, why waste my time? You might not even be a real human. Yeah.
- [62:36]
Kale
What was your favorite role that you've ever played?
- [62:41]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, I guess it would have to be Stephanie.
- [62:43]
Kale
Really?
- [62:44]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. I love Stephanie. And again, she's, like, sort of the closest to me, so it's always been like, that's an easy role to slip into.
- [62:52]
Kale
Yeah.
- [62:53]
Jodie Sweetin
And, you know, she's. She's loved.
- [62:56]
Kale
Yeah, she is.
- [62:58]
Jodie Sweetin
I. I love Steph now. I think as a teenager, I was like, oh, my God. Yeah, I know. I was on the show. Now I'm like, I love her. I love that show. I love what it was about. I love how connected people are to it. I mean, I was. We were in Harlem last night for Juneteenth, and. And this. I passed by this young kid on a skateboard, like, you know, nose piercings, all this stuff. And he was like, are you that lady from Full House? And I was like, yes. Can I give you a hug? And he was like, 17, 18. And I was like, absolutely. And what other characters give you that response? Yeah, other than something that people have grown up with and lived with their whole lives. So I consider Steph to be, like, a special little conduit of, you know, love and change out there in the world.
- [63:41]
Kale
Is there a dream collab or a dream role that you want to play?
- [63:46]
Jodie Sweetin
I don't know if there's a dream role. I Like doing more serious dark stuff. But I would love to do like a show like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia or Arrested Development and sort of irreverent, witty, layered, single cam comedy.
- [64:06]
Kale
Yeah, I love it.
- [64:08]
Jodie Sweetin
I. I watched that. Those are the kind of comedies I watch. I don't watch sitcoms, but I will watch.
- [64:13]
Kale
Do you watch the Office or did you.
- [64:14]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, I did. Yeah, I watched like the Office. I didn't watch it like all of the time, but yeah, again, that kind of stuff. I just. That would be really fun to do. But I also. I really want opportunities to direct more.
- [64:25]
Kale
Would you ever do like a book to movie or book to show adaptation?
- [64:29]
Jodie Sweetin
Absolutely. Yeah.
- [64:30]
Kale
What are you most looking forward to? Book to movie adaptation. Did you read Verity?
- [64:36]
Jodie Sweetin
I didn't.
- [64:38]
Kale
Don't.
- [64:38]
Jodie Sweetin
Okay.
- [64:39]
Kale
I mean, do. But if you have a weak stomach, don't.
- [64:41]
Jodie Sweetin
I don't. I'm. I'm a very dark. I'm like this. There's nothing that can shock me or. It's weird at this point.
- [64:47]
Kale
Like the dark stuff.
- [64:48]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah, yeah.
- [64:49]
Kale
Still Beating is supposed to be a movie and that's by Jennifer Hartman.
- [64:52]
Jodie Sweetin
Okay.
- [64:53]
Kale
I'm trying to think what else.
- [64:55]
Jodie Sweetin
I'm usually one of those people. I'm like, once I've read the book, I'm like, I don't care about the movie because I'm like, it's not gonna be a good.
- [64:59]
Kale
But you might. You could be in it. You could be casted.
- [65:01]
Jodie Sweetin
That I would do. Yeah. Oh, there.
- [65:02]
Kale
Well, remarkably, remarkably bright creatures. Have you seen Love that is going to be a movie that's going to.
- [65:08]
Jodie Sweetin
You know who's in it?
- [65:09]
Kale
No.
- [65:09]
Jodie Sweetin
Sally Field. See, she's playing. Why can't I think of the character's name? She's playing the main character, the octopus. She's not playing the octopus. She's playing the. They're cgi. Sally Field's face onto an octopus. It's the flying octopus. No, no, she's going to. Tova.
- [65:29]
Kale
Tova. Okay, thank you.
- [65:30]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah.
- [65:30]
Kale
Oh, wow. I don't know.
- [65:32]
Jodie Sweetin
I read that book. I was in Yosemite and I read it after a horrible bout of norovirus, which was a real bummer, but I was reading that book and just crying at the end of it. I loved it.
- [65:41]
Kale
I loved it. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Did you read that one?
- [65:45]
Jodie Sweetin
No, but I've heard about that one.
- [65:46]
Kale
You have to read.
- [65:46]
Jodie Sweetin
It's on my. I think it's on my, like, wish list of my books to buy that one.
- [65:51]
Kale
I feel like I related in a different way because I have four. My kids have four dads.
- [65:56]
Jodie Sweetin
It's always complicated.
- [65:57]
Kale
I feel like what you've talked about today, you could maybe relate to parts of it. Especially because the public eye aspect of it too is in there. And I think it would be really cool.
- [66:05]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna move that up to the top of the list.
- [66:07]
Kale
It was really good. And I didn't listen to the audio, but I, I heard really good things about the audio. So if you're traveling. Okay, that would be.
- [66:14]
Jodie Sweetin
I can't do audiobooks.
- [66:15]
Kale
You can't.
- [66:17]
Jodie Sweetin
So I'm not an auditory learner.
- [66:18]
Kale
Okay.
- [66:19]
Jodie Sweetin
I am a person that has to physically touch it. I don't read ebooks either.
- [66:23]
Kale
Okay.
- [66:23]
Jodie Sweetin
Because if I don't have the tactile page, it does not absorb. It's like it just doesn't happen. Same thing with scripts. I hate using E scripts. I'll do it to read through. Yeah. But you get most of the scripts now. You download them on an iPad or whatever. But I always like to have, I always print my script out.
- [66:42]
Kale
Yeah.
- [66:43]
Jodie Sweetin
Because if I don't have it in my hand when I'm trying to memorize it, it doesn't, it's like it doesn't exist.
- [66:49]
Kale
We're missing that in for school these days. Like my 7 year old came home with a chrome like a computer and I'm like, I can't. This is why he's not entertaining anything because he's like, just click every now.
- [66:58]
Jodie Sweetin
I hate it. I hate it all. Yeah. I'm going to live in a yurt in the woods in a couple years. But I, I, I, I am a book nerd. So I love it. I. The series of books that I was telling you about, Carlos Riza Fon. I always, I was like, oh my God, this would be you. It would have to be like a big budget giant hbo that because there's so much that you'd have to be able to afford to create and do. But I also am like, oh, but it's so good. Don't do touch it.
- [67:26]
Kale
Yeah, well, because they have to remove so much. Right.
- [67:28]
Jodie Sweetin
And I think if I remember right, I, I think I remember there were a lot of people that had come to him to like purchase rights and to his family. He passed during COVID to purchase the rights to that series of books. And he was like, now. And I get it.
- [67:41]
Kale
Like for him.
- [67:42]
Jodie Sweetin
Yeah. I was like, no, don't let him. This is, this is special. And you couldn't, you couldn't replicate it if you Tried.
- [67:48]
Kale
No, for sure. Where can people find you on socials?
- [67:50]
Jodie Sweetin
You can find me on Instagram and at Jody Sweeten. You can also find the podcast I do, which is the full house rewatch podcast with Andrea Barber, which is called How Rude Tanderitos. And you can find us online at how readpodcast on Instagram. And I'm trying to think what else? I think that's about it. I think I'm on TikTok. I don't ever go on TikTok. I think my social manager posts on TikTok. Maybe. I don't know. I've literally never opened TikTok in my life and I plan to keep it that way.
- [68:15]
Kale
I was gonna say keep it that way for sure.
- [68:17]
Jodie Sweetin
I mean, at this point, we might lose it anyway. So I'm like, why get attached to something that's going away? You know?
- [68:21]
Kale
This is true. And you can always watch the movie Dating to Dangerous on Lifetime on June 21st at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [68:29]
Jodie Sweetin
I'm so glad I got together. Thank you so much.
- [69:09]
Hayden Cohen
Hi, guys. My name is Hayden and a lot of you have been asking me to start a podcast. Okay, I'm totally kidding. Nobody asked me to start a podcast. The world did. Absolutely not need another podcast. But I wanted to because there's no place on the Internet where I can yap for 30 to 45 minutes straight with my best friends, you guys, and just shoot the shit. Talk about all of my favorite things like social media, pop culture, reality tv, influencers. We all know I love a good influencer and that's what you can expect from my new podcast. A lot of you have been asking. This is a space for some real conversations with some of my favorite creators, reality stars, maybe even a celebrity or two if they answer my dm. This is all about the world behind the curtain that I really want to share with you guys. Allow me to ask the questions that you've been dying to know the answers to. And allow me to tell my guests that a lot of you have been asking. You guys can listen to, follow rate and review. A lot of you have been asking with me, Hayden Cohen. Wherever you get podcasts.
- [70:11]
Jodie Sweetin
This summer, Pluto TV is exploding with thousands of free movies. Summer of cinema is here. Feel the explosive action all summer long with movies like Gladiator, Mission Impossible, Beverly Hills Cop, Good Burger and Transformers. Dark of the Moon. Bring the action with you and stream for free from all your favorite devices. Pluto TV Stream now pay never.