Full House displayed the loving bond of the Tanner family, especially between the sisters DJ, Stephanie, and Michelle. All faced struggles and growing pains of their own over the eight seasons of the sitcom, but Stephanie (played by Jodie Sweetin) had the extra woes of a middle child. Viewers saw the middle daughter struggle a bit to find her place in the family in the original series, but unlike her character, Sweetin grew up an only child off-screen. While their lives diverged multiple ways, the Full House alum recalled the first time she truly felt like a middle child as Stephanie.
The sitcom vet gave the middle child anecdote while chatting on the Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown podcast. The subject came up while Sweetin and Bialik talked about her time on the ABC sitcom. Bialik’s fascination came from her mother being a middle daughter, and she mentioned being obsessed with the ins and outs of being a middle child. The Call Me Kat star felt Stephanie’s dynamic as the middle Tanner was relatable and asked Sweetin how that dynamic was reflected on and offscreen. The question led to the Fuller House star recalling a moment from a classic Full House episode. Sweetin shared:
There’s an episode in Full House where Jesse and Becky are moving out of the house. You know when Jesse moved into the house he moved into Stephanie’s old bedroom with the pink bunnies. Now, the pink bunnies were supposedly hand cut by Pamela, Stephanie’s mom [and] Jesse’s sister, and placed in Stephanie’s room when she was a baby. So, those pink bunnies were [in] Stephanie’s room. [In] the episode where Jesse moves out, I believe Michelle gives Jesse the pink bunny. And I was like ‘But those are mine.’ Not like in real life but looking back now I’m like... ‘Oh, I actually know what it’s like to be a middle child.’ But it was cuter if Michelle did it… You know there were definitely those times as an only child I really was like ‘Oh, so this is the in-between experience.’
Playing Stephanie Tanner allowed Sweetin to experience a life she didn’t live offscreen. Uncle Jesse leaving the Tanner household in the Season 4 episode “Fuller House” was one of the original series’ saddest moments. While fans were touched by the special moment between Uncle Jesse and Michelle, the TV star couldn’t understand why Stephanie’s bunnies weren’t her moment. But that showed how the TV dynamic can translate to real life even decades after the episode aired.
As the Stephanie Tanner actress pointed out, Michelle was the cute younger sister. DJ was the smart and responsible older sister. But Stephanie was the middle sister who craved attention and a personality separate from her sisters. Fortunately, being a middle daughter only existed on the classic sitcom’s set. Sweetin recalled being grateful for her TV family but loving her life as the only child in her real-life family.
It was fun to have that faux family, but I’m not gonna lie – it was nice to be able to go home as an only child and be like 'I only have me to worry about.'
Luckily, she could leave behind the “middle child syndrome” on the Full House set. That didn’t deter Sweetin and TV older sister Candace Cameron Bure from forming a sisterly bond on and off-screen as they reunited to star in Netflix's Fuller House sequel series. As of late, however, fans have seen a rift between the TV sisters, as Sweetin showed Jojo Siwa support following her comments on Cameron Bure’s controversial “traditional marriage” statements.
Sweetin's public backing of Siwa allegedly led to the GAC Family star unfollowing her TV sister on Instagram. Bure was allegedly upset with Sweetin for not managing the situation privately. The disagreement between them hasn’t deterred the former Stephanie actress from being an LGBTQ ally. Hopefully, things will work out between the Tanner sisters sooner rather than later.
To revisit every classic episode of Full House, get yourself an HBO Max subscription to watch all eight seasons. Once you’re finished with the 1990s classic sitcom, get a Netflix subscription to revisit its sequel series Fuller House.
