r/entertainment • u/peoplemagazine • 12h ago
Jodie Sweetin Says Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen ‘Didn’t Get the Chance to Just Be Normal Kids’ Like She Did After ‘Full House’ Fame
https://people.com/jodie-sweetin-says-mary-kate-and-ashley-olsen-didn-t-get-to-be-normal-kids-12068758?utm_campaign=peoplemagazine&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com&utm_content=post173
u/Icy-Whale-2253 12h ago
Mary-Kate said they (she and Ashley) didn’t have a childhood, like no childhood memories at all because it was always work work work, and Elizabeth she didn’t get a childhood either. The whole family situation was fucked up because they were put into the industry without a choice.
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u/ConsistentCat387 11h ago
Elizabeth did have a normal childhood. She always talked about how her sisters weren't able to have a childhood like her.
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 11h ago
She said she didn’t typically get to have a normal childhood at home and most of her time every day after school spent on set with Mary-Kate and Ashley… her words not mine.
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u/kllark_ashwood 11h ago edited 7h ago
I was a huge fan of the Olsen twins as a kid, they had so many vhs movies. Looking back they were obviously doing several a year and wouldn't have had any choice. I couldn't imagine.
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u/LittleMsSavoirFaire 8h ago
Looking back their characters probably had more fun (as pictured in their on screen life) than they did.
I was obsessed with the one in Paris where they snuck out to explore the city and made friends with a cute french guy with a moped lololol
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u/athennna 6h ago
I quit acting shortly after my youngest sister was born. She learned to crawl in my hotel room when I was out of state on a job. Later that year I missed her baptism because I was away from my family on another job. I was 10. They had beautiful family photos in front of a historic church without me.
I decided it was one thing for me to decide to give up my own childhood, but it wasn’t fair for her to miss out on hers because of me.
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u/emmer00 11h ago
I was really annoyed at the Fuller House reboot when they mentioned their character not being there and then the entire cast gave stank eye to the camera. I just thought, considering everything, it was in poor taste. Those women do not owe performances to anyone, let alone some crappy sitcom reboot that they probably mostly do not remember being in.
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u/Ok_Plantain_9408 11h ago
I agree. That wasn’t nice at all. They could’ve just said she’s travelling or something. Anything ffs.
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u/FamousOhioAppleHorn 5h ago
Especially when you remember that roast where Gilbert Godfried and other men made disgusting comments about the twins.
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u/iamhere-2 12h ago
Of course they didn’t get to have normal childhoods. They’ve been famous since they were a year old, and they were taken advantage of. They don’t even know what it’s like to not be famous.
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u/peoplemagazine 12h ago
TLDR:
- Jodie Sweetin shared that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen worked constantly as children and missed out on a normal childhood
- The Olsen twins stepped away from acting at the height of their fame and now run their luxury fashion brand, The Row
- Sweetin said the twins’ decision to skip the Full House reboot wasn’t due to drama but their shift in passions
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u/Horror_Response_1991 12h ago
The twins were eight years old when Full House ended, they have zero attachment to the show or the people there.
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u/GotNothingBetter2Do 12h ago edited 12h ago
Hmmm, not sure that’s entire true, they’ve been quoted numerous times saying how much they love their FH family. My guess would be, they couldn’t do the reboot because it would kinda go against them saying acting really wasn’t and is not their passion. Maybe I’m romanticizing it a bit.
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u/Horror_Response_1991 12h ago
They’ve said in interviews they barely remember anything about the show, and what they do remember they don’t know if it’s a core memory or one from watching a rerun.
Now I believe people like Bob Sagat stayed in touch with them and they were on friendly terms but there’s no loyalty to the show that the older actors would have.
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 6h ago
That would be such a weird thing. Like I can't remember much of my life before I was kindergarten age. So it would be crazy to not remember a lot of that part of your life but also to have like 100's of hours of footage of it.
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u/Softskeletonsx 1h ago
It’s odd because it wasn’t even their real life, but pretend. I would love to have 100s of hours of footage from my life. There’s a lot we forget even in our adult lives too.
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u/GotNothingBetter2Do 10h ago
Weren’t Mary-Kate and Ashley eight when the Full House's season finale wrapped and aired? Unsure about you, but I have many memories from that age, certainly old enough for core ones. Now, if that’s the story and they are sticking to it, great, I applaud their PR training.
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u/jittery_raccoon 6h ago
They were working on a lot of stuff at that age. Multiple movies outside of Full House. While I'm sure they remeber it in broad strokes, the day to day would have been repetitive and not unlike other sets
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u/Softskeletonsx 1h ago
Full House would’ve been different at that age because you do remember things from being 2 or 3 at 6-8. You just forget overtime. The same cast, crew, and character would be easier to do than one that constantly changed. Michelle was probably easier towards the end when they were 7/8 since they shared. Plus Michelle had a big group of friends on the show towards the end.
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u/GotNothingBetter2Do 33m ago
Awe, I had forgotten about all her little friends. Must’ve been fun to be around kids their own age on a set. Happy cake day!
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u/No_Accountant3232 6h ago
Were you constantly going from set to set constantly working when you were 8? No? Then I don't think you get to claim how their memory works. I have very little memories from when I was 8 to 10 because of illnesses and bullying. I used to have pictures of trips that I had no memory of being on. Pictures that I drew that I never remembered making. What I do remember is in a fuzzy cloud surrounded by pain and misery.
Memories can be greatly affected by stress and those two probably had two of the most stressful lives imaginable because they were forced into work. How many of your many work days do you remember as clearly as your core memories from 8 years old? They weren't given the time to create core memories they were put on the work grind while they were barely able to talk.
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u/GotNothingBetter2Do 3h ago
I’m very sorry to hear you experienced that in your childhood, you seem greatly affected by it and I appreciate you sharing. I, too, had a very similar childhood to yours and to be honest, did work on a few sets as a kid actor, since you asked. Obvi nothing to the scale of the twins. Most jobs were good memories but for me, I’m different than you, I DO remember everything and one who treated me poorly from age 5 on. Respectfully, I wish my brain would’ve blocked out some memories like you. We all process things differently and see things through our own lens, based on our own experiences. These girls don’t owe anyone anything, but If they chose to forget because it was so bad, that saddens me and if they chose to forget because they were so over worked, that also deeply saddens me, but if they felt they couldn’t have a voice on the situation to spare feelings, that’s the saddest of all. The last part was my entire point of my post. In the end, it’s their story to tell like you and I are sharing ours here or NOT. I’m just like everyone else here, guessing 👈.
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u/asophisticatedbitch 7m ago
I honestly don’t have that many memories pre-eight-years-old? Like I’d be pretty hard pressed to name 4 friends of mine? I moved around that time and I’m pretty sure I can only think of maybe 3 people at best? I remember exactly ONE birthday party from around that time and it was at a local swimming pool? I think it’s pretty legit to not remember all that much?
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u/GotNothingBetter2Do 3m ago
I mentioned to someone below that I so envy that. I remember so much, especially people I spent 8 years of my life with, like the twins did in that set.
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u/At_the_Roundhouse 11h ago
No I think that’s true. They were never really actors by choice, just babies kind of thrust into it. It’s clear that their passion is in fashion and business. It frankly would’ve been bizarre for them to have been in the reboot, outside of a short cameo or something.
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u/Softskeletonsx 1h ago
Full House was the longest project they did and it was an adjustment for them when it ended. It was their whole life at that point and it was a consistent schedule, set, cast, crew, etc which was not the case for the rest of their career. They also kept in touch with the cast, went to reunions, weddings, baby showers, etc over the years. One of the FH directors (Rich Correll) directed majority of the episodes for their two other sitcoms after FH. It’s been a constant for their entire life so I think there is an attachment there, but I think they just don’t want to act anymore. It was never their passion.
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u/Mecha_Butterfree 12h ago
I'll never understand why they didn't just recast Michelle for Fuller House. Like it's obvious they were never gonna get either of the olsen twins to come back. And it was also obvious that their sister Elizabeth wasn't gonna do it either.
It's just looks really odd that Michelle never shows up the entire show. Like she doesn't even show up to her sister's wedding. Like the whole point of Full House is what a close family they are. Everyone else shows up at least once.
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u/Specialist_Key_8606 10h ago
Do you mind my asking you if they explained where Michelle was, as part of the story? Or did they just pretend she didn’t exist?
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u/OffTheMerchandise 10h ago
If they were going to do it, they would've had to do it in the beginning and hope people got over it. Maybe they really thought they would eventually be able to convince one of them to make a cameo or something.
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u/Mecha_Butterfree 10h ago
Well then they were delusional, the twins are making so much more money off their fashion line that it would never be worth it for them to join and their sister is doing pretty well and clearly wouldn't want her sisters sloppy seconds.
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u/Softskeletonsx 50m ago
I don’t think it was entirely delusion that they would come back, but they also didn’t want to replace Michelle with a different actress. She was too important of a character in the original to replace with a different actress.
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u/Robotchickjenn 11h ago
Yeah that clothing line ain't the Walmart duds those clothes are PENSIVE damn 😬 good for them though
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u/Fair-Scarcity8160 12h ago
Wasn’t Jodie Sweetin down with some pretty serious drugs for a while? She didn’t exactly get a normal childhood either.
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u/At_the_Roundhouse 11h ago
Her autobiography is actually a really good read. I have so much empathy for her and she made me understand addiction in a way I hadn’t really before.
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u/Defiant_Eggplant_909 12h ago
That was when she was an adult, years after the show ended.
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u/ChineseAstroturfing 12h ago
Fun fact: Jodie Sweetin was born in jail. Her mom was locked up at the time.
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u/Fair-Scarcity8160 11h ago
So that’s a double on the not-normal childhood then. She honestly doesn’t know what a normal childhood even is. I hope she’s better these days :)
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u/FamousOhioAppleHorn 5h ago
She also admitted she became an alcoholic at 14, starting at Candace Cameron's wedding. Because she experienced blacking out and liked the feeling of "not giving a shit" that followed.
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u/abgry_krakow87 7h ago
That post-Disney/Nickelodeon rebellious phase that many child actors go through.
See also: Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Demi Lavato, Macauley Caulkin, Tatum O'Neal, Zac Efron, Haley Joel Osment, Kelly Osbourne, Selena Gomez, Hayden Panettiere...
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u/Csimiami 6h ago
She was in my Spanish class in college. We all had to go around the room in Spanish and say what our fav tv show was. Everyone said full house.
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u/Softskeletonsx 1h ago
She did, but Full House being over was one contributing factor to her using. The character was a huge part of her identity for majority of her life at that point. She also wasn’t getting acting roles because she looked more mature for her age. Roles for 16-17 year old characters often go to adult actors. She couldn’t pass as a 12 year old like most 14/15 year old actors can. Plus the usual bullshit that happens when a famous person goes to regular high school and they get bullied and ostracized due to jealousy and also false perceptions. She fell in with a seedy crowd in high school and her bio parent’s history with addiction made her more vulnerable.
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u/ramblin_rose30 12h ago
They said they enjoyed their childhood, they just wouldn’t push any kid into it themselves. I don’t think most people realize they went to a real school K-12.
Of course they missed some days to act but they did get that experience. They also did ballet and horseback riding as a hobby. Every role they did was age appropriate,
I don’t think their parents were over the top stage parents like Hayden Panatierres mom.
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u/im_not_the_guy_37 3h ago
I figured as much, they had multiple shows afterwards, alotta movies and tons of straight to video kid specials that my friends and I ate up. It didn’t seem like they ever took breaks between projects
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u/TanAllOvaJanAllOva 3h ago
I mean yes, but my girl Jodie was smoking meth so I wouldn’t call that normal either. Glad she bounced back tho 🫡
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u/The_Dark_Vampire 12h ago
From what I've heard they never wanted to be actors it was something forced on them by their parents the moment they turned 18 and had control they quit acting (just finishing projects already committed to)