From Child Star to Drug Addict and Back
Jodie Sweetin, 27, best known as Stephanie Tanner, the middle child on the television sitcom ‘Full House,’ went from child star to meth addict to mom and most recently has become a published author.
Sweetin’s memoir, Unsweetined, released in November 2009. In the book she talks about her acting career as a child (from age five to 13), her addiction to crystal meth while in college and married to an LAPD officer, her experimentation with cocaine and ecstasy, her first experience with alcohol, two divorces and her daughter, Zoie.
The former child star found she loved attention and the spotlight at an early age. The first time she hit the stage was at three-years-old, at a nursery school dance recital. The first character she played was a Cabbage Patch Kid along with her classmates, “the minute I stepped out there [on stage], I had arrived… I immediately started doing my own thing…” (Sweetin, p.11) It became apparent from her participation in the recital that she was a natural actress, so her mother became her manager and began taking her young child to auditions, voice lessons, acting and dance classes, beauty pageants, anywhere Sweetin could perform, she would. “I told my mom I wanted to be a ‘modeler,’ my name for actors on TV.” (p. 12)
Sweetin became a “modeler” quickly; her hobby turned into a full-time job by the age of five.
Stephanie Tanner was the character Sweetin played in the late ‘80s sitcom, Full House, which ran from ‘87 to ‘95 and it was set in San Francisco. The family show followed a single father, Danny Tanner (Bog Sagat), trying to raise three daughters after his wife died in a car accident. After the tragic accident, best friend, Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier), and bother-in-law, Uncle Jesse (John Stamos), moved in to help with the girls – the oldest, D.J. (Candace Cameron), the middle, Stephanie (Sweetin), and baby Michelle (played by the then baby twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen).
I, like many kids, grew-up watching Full House, wishing we were as cool as D.J. and as adorable as Michelle. Stephanie was the quirky middle child, who often got left out and would often say, “How rude!” Sweetin remembers, “I became very aware that I was just the middle kid that wasn't the cute one or the oldest one. I wasn’t quite sure who I was - either in character or in real life.” (p.41)
The show ended in 1995 and suddenly 13-year-old Sweetin had no stage or spotlight, the source from where she acquired acceptance was no longer available. So began her quest for self-love and confidence.
In her book, Sweetin talks about the first time she got drunk, at age 14. Her first drunken experience was at her co-star and older sister (in the show), Candace Cameron’s wedding, where she claims to have drank two bottles of wine. The experience with alcohol gave her the self confidence she had been searching for and it set the pattern for the self-destructive behavior she would demonstrate in her early 20’s.
By the time she was in college she had started using Ecstasy then Cocaine; by 22, she was married to an LAPD officer and began experimenting with crystal meth. After six months of using meth she had developed a full-blown addiction, which she kept secret from her husband and family. In 2005, after “a two-day bender of coke, meth, and Ecstasy,” (p.5) Sweetin was hospitalized and the secret was revealed. Sweetin and than husband divorced six months after she left rehab.
In May 2007, according to People Magazine, Sweetin met a film transportation coordinator and after two months of dating they got married. She quickly got pregnant and had to sober up. After just 10 months of marriage she gave birth to daughter, Zoie. The new mother began drinking shortly after giving birth.
Zoie, is Sweetins’ pride and joy, her biggest accomplishment, which is why she’s making better choices, battling addiction and sober living, “You are the most important, and amazing thing I have ever done with my life. There is no greater success that I could ever come close to than having you. You are perfection in every sense of the word… I am blessed to have you.” (p.230) Sweetin wrote a letter to her daughter in the memoir, she hopes her daughter does not go through all the troubles she did, “Most important, I hope you [Zoie] grow into a woman who loves herself. It is not an easy thing, self-love.” (p.231)
Sweetin and the father of her child divorced shortly after Zoie’s birth, he filed for sole custody accusing her of relapsing into substance abuse, which she admitted to having two glasses of wine. According to People Magazine, Sweetin has 50-50 custodial time which takes place at her parents’ home where she currently lives in Los Angeles and a custody court date is scheduled for February 9, 2010.
Sweetin is a young woman trying to figure out who she is away from the spotlight and the stage she became very accustom to at an early age, she is also an addict that battles with sobriety every day, but she must stay clean and sober for her daughter. As of April 1, 2009, when the manuscript for her book was due, Sweetin had been sober 114 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment