‘Full House’ Star Jodie Sweetin Says She Had ‘$190 in My Bank Account’ Before Filming ‘Fuller House’: ‘I Had to Borrow Money the First Week’

Jodie Sweetin, who first shot to fame as Stephanie Tanner on the beloved sitcom “Full House,” is opening up about her financial struggles over the years, particularly how close she came to running out of funds before returning to the show’s 2016 reboot, “Fuller House.”

via: EW

The actress rose to fame as a child star in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s thanks to her iconic role as Stephanie Tanner on Full House. The sitcom ran for eight seasons before coming to an end in 1995. More than a decade later, Netflix greenlit a revival series titled Fuller House, and Sweetin joined the project alongside nearly all of her former costars.

During the gap between the two shows, Sweetin took a break from acting and worked regular day jobs instead. She recalled ultimately deciding to leave her job to return to the small screen during a recent appearance on the We’re Still Here, Babe podcast,

“I quit my job for multiple reasons,” she explained. “I would have stayed longer; it was only like a couple months, so we were supposed to start doing Fuller, but it was crazy, and things blew up, and I was like, ‘I’m out.’”

Sweetin shared that she made the decision to quit her job before filming began because she was involved in the pitch meetings alongside costars Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber, John Stamos, and Fuller House creator Jeff Franklin.

“I’d be leaving work. I’d be like, ‘Okay, I’ll be back in like two and a half hours,’ I go to a pitch meeting and then come back and work,” she recalled. “One pitch meeting I missed because there was a super important meeting that day, and I was like, ‘I can’t leave.’”

While Sweetin figured her costars would be fine without her during that one meeting, she realized that it was getting harder to balance both jobs. And she wanted to be more involved behind the scenes of the revival.

“I quit because I was like, ‘I’m gonna be okay. This is gonna come anyway,’” she said. “But of course, you know, I didn’t consider the fact that, yeah sure, you’re gonna work for a couple weeks, but they’ve got to set up payroll, and you’ve got to get the bank.”

Sweetin admitted that the time in between paychecks was a rough period as a mom of two. While waiting for that first paycheck to drop, her bank account started to dwindle, and she had to take action.

“I had to borrow money the first week I was working on Fuller House,” she admitted. “I skidded into my first paycheck with, like, $190 in my bank account.”

While Sweetin didn’t reveal who she borrowed money from, she did share that none of her Fuller House castmates were aware of her hardship. However, she knows that her situation is not unique and many former child stars also struggle with financial issues.

“I’ve been very fortunate to know a lot of really wonderful things, but I have had those experiences with kids where there’s no money and you gotta work, and your ego can’t be involved in it,” she said. “And I think that’s what happens to a lot of people. We’re talking about that idea of who you think I’m supposed to be. I think a lot of young people fall into that, young actors who are maybe no longer working or have grown up a little bit and feel they don’t know how to overcome that.”

Everything worked out for Sweetin in the end as Fuller House ran for five seasons. The show came to an end in 2020, but she has since continued to act in various projects, including multiple Hallmark movies. Sweetin most recently appeared on season 2 of the Disney Channel series Vampirina: Teenage Vampire.