Full House has stood the test of time, with its fans now spanning multiple generations, thanks to syndicated reruns and the popular Netflix spinoff Fuller House that saw the return of most of its original cast. Part of what has kept fans coming back to the San Francisco-set sitcom is the chemistry amongst the cast, with the Tanners feeling like a real-life family — full of love but with all-too-relatable conflict. In rewatching old episodes, Full House star Jodie Sweetin admitted that 5-year-old Stephanie was “annoying” to her older sister (played by Candace Cameron Bure), and as a big sister myself, I’d have to take DJ’s side on this one.
Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber have begun rewatching Full House from the beginning on their new podcast How Rude, Tanneritos!, and the Kimmy Gibler portrayer asked Jodie Sweetin how she and Candace Cameron Bure developed such a natural relationship as sisters. Sweetin responded that if the vibes felt familiar to those of us with sisters of our own, that’s because they probably were. In her words:
I think that the dynamic was actually very real, because you know Candace was the baby of her family and then there was me, and so I was the annoying, five-year-younger sister who was like, ‘Laugh at my jokes! Look at me!’ you know? And I was all over the place, and I think Candace was very much like DJ and just like, ‘Oh my God, why are you here?’
To be fair, we don’t know for sure that Candace Cameron Bure was actually annoyed by the attention-seeking of her TV little sister, but I find it hard to believe that any person with a younger sibling would blame her if she was. There was arguably no child cuter than Stephanie Tanner — she was precocious to a fault — but DJ’s sassy, “leave me alone” attitude toward Stephanie in those early episodes is exactly what I’d expect from a pre-teen.
This is especially true when you consider that DJ had just lost her mom and now had to share her room with Stephanie to allow for Uncle Jesse and not-an-uncle Joey to move in. Will no one think of the older sisters?! Jodie Sweetin was understanding of any feelings her older “sister” might have had, speaking to how their respective ages at the time played into it. She continued:
But it was also, like, 5- and 10-year-olds, you know what I mean? At that age, that's a huge age gap. But it was great because we really brought a lot of that, like, sister dynamic where, you know, we had fun and we got along, but like it was also, I'm sure she was like, ‘Somebody please entertain this kid.’
Jodie Sweetin was being pretty self-deprecating, because it’s probably fair to say that most 5-year-olds can be a handful to whomever they’re around. Regardless of what Candace Cameron Bure’s feelings were toward Sweetin back in 1987, their dynamic made for some great TV, and the entire cast grew into a family that keeps in touch to this day.
As the cast has pointed out, though, every family “bickers” and has disagreements, and there was reportedly some tension between Candace Cameron Bure and Jodie Sweetin following the former’s words on “traditional marriage” in Great American Family’s Christmas movies last year. More recently, Sweetin said in a statement August 11 that she was “disappointed” that a movie she filmed over a year ago — Craft Me a Romance — had been sold to GAF. Amidst the rumored drama, however, the actresses reunited for 90s Con in March of this year and will see each other again in Tampa, Florida, in September.
Regardless of anything going on behind the scenes, this Full House rewatch has proven that Candace Cameron Bure and Jodie Sweetin’s sisterly vibes have been there from the beginning. If you want to check it out for yourself, all eight seasons of Full House can be streamed with a Max subscription or Hulu subscription. You can also see the actresses as adults on Fuller House, available with a Netflix subscription.
