‘Full House’ Star John Stamos Opens Up About Alcoholism in New Book

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 13: John Stamos attends Wheelhouse and Rally's celebrity and content-creator private fund raise event, with rare collectibles on display from sports, culture and history on October 13, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. Rally is a Fractional Investing Platform for Collectibles.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Wheelhouse

John Stamos wasn’t always the lovable uncle figure that he portrayed on Full House in real life. Stamos struggled with alcohol addiction and opens up about that time in his life in his new memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, which comes out on Oct. 24. He also pinpoints the moment he knew he needed to change and how it led to some of the best times in his life.

The 60-year-old admitted, “I had to sober up. I was just drinking too much. I just went low. I didn’t go high. I just surrounded myself with people I shouldn’t have been with. I had that DUI and I was like, ‘I can’t do this. I’ve got to straighten up.’ That’s when I was confusing the universe because I’m not a bad person, but I was doing crappy things.” His 2015 DUI made headlines and changed his public image.

FULL HOUSE, John Stamos, 1987-95 (ca. early 1990s photo)

ABC/Everett Collection

After the incident, Stamos entered rehab and it wasn’t easy. He said that it was “dark for a little bit.” Eventually, as he recovered, he said that things got better and he made some really good friends along the way. After leaving rehab, he began filming the Full House reboot Fuller House about a week later. Around the same time, he met his now-wife, Caitlin McHugh Stamos.

BEAUMONT, CA - NOVEMBER 27: John Stamos (C), his wife Caitlin McHugh (L) and their son, Billy Stamos (R) attend a special event in which John Stamos is named as national spokesman for Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at Childhelp Merv Griffin Village on November 27, 2018 in Beaumont, California

Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

They wed in 2018 and had their son Billy, who is now five years old. He admits that he probably wouldn’t have been a good father when he was still drinking and credits his wife and son for keeping him on a positive path in life.

NECESSARY ROUGHNESS, John Stamos, (Season 3), 2011-

James White/USA Network/Everett Collection

Stamos added, “They have kept me on this path because going down the road of being sober and taking care of yourself, everybody tries. Everybody does it. You could get going for a little while. Then, it’s like, ‘I can drink again.’ So it’s staying on the path is what they mostly do for me.”

Click here to pre-order his memoir on Amazon.

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September 2019

Cary Grant, Sean Connery, Rock Hudson and Paul Newman, smoldered onscreen and, in addition to being smokin’ hot, they were effortlessly cool.

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