Jodie Sweetin and the “Growing- Up Pains” Theory

When I take Jodie Sweetin's name (@JodieTweetin), I am sure there are only two things that come to your minds: one her successful career as Stephanie Tanner in the 90’s sitcom “full house”, the second is her infamous meth addiction.

I am reminded of a monologue from the recent hit “The vow” to explain why these are the only two things people remember of her. It goes something like this “the sum of all the moments of impacts make us what we are”. So in this case, her huge moments of impact were delivering absolutely wonderful performances as a kid and forgetting what to do after she became, as she puts it, “jobless at the age of thirteen”!

The reason behind her second “moment of impact” – the “growing up pains” theory

There is a theory regarding child actors growing up to be not so popular individuals. I am just gonna call it “the growin up pains” theory (Yeah, yeah I know it sounds like Kirk Cameron’s popular sitcom "Growing pains").They say people who grow up with very successful stints at their fields of interest, tend to get confused and pressurized once they come out of that “comfort zone”. Now of course, when we see Jodie, Jerry Supiran (small wonder), Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes and the likes this theory certainly holds good. 

Questions that linger in everyone's minds

I fail to understand why there isn’t a success continuum here. The fact is Jodie was a very well-known figure and her “how rude!” was the most famous catch phrase of the 90s. I fail to understand how she could not cash on that popularity. Not just her, how come most of the child celebs of the yesteryears faded into oblivion? They were stars for a reason- their talent. Just because they all grew up doesn’t imply that their talent was lost in the growing process right?

Stephanie Tanner- the cause behind my watching “Full House”

I watched “Full house” quite recently. I did not want to watch it at first as I have a type of repellence to old videos- both movies and TV shows. But I remember the time I changed my mind and gave it a shot. My twin sister, Susie was watching an episode in the second season where Kimi Gibbler’s snoring has kept both DJ and Stepahie awake. They decide to shift her into Michelle’s room when Steph says, “ I pity the fool who marries this woman (Kimi)”! It cracked me up totally and I was literally rolling on my bed laughing! That very moment I decided I had to watch this how because I did not want to miss any of Steph’s wisecracks.

What is Jodie doing now?

 I became one of the biggest fans of Jodie after watching the TV series. I dug into her life story with the help of the various links on the net to know more. She was a meth addict for 3 years and finally got out of it only after her first child Zoe was born. After coming out of rehab, she immediately started a new life for the sake of her kid. She has been sober since 2009.

She came out with an autobiography “Unsweetined” which received positive reviews. It was her honest revelations in the book that made people take notice of her again. But sadly it didn’t last long. She then acted in a few independent movies like “port city” and “redefining love” which again did not help her regain her earlier popularity.

Jodie recently worked with her “Full house” co-star Dave Coulier (uncle Joey) on a 5 episode web-series “Can’t get arrested”, where DJ Candace Cameron made a special appearance too.  Although it was a web series, it did receive some good responses from the audience. The third webisode is the most watched episode of the series where DJ and Steph come face to face with our most favorite catch phrases “nerd bomber” and “how rude”!

She occasionally writes for women’s blogs and also participates in skype interviews for the same. Jodie had another baby daughter last year with her current partner Morty Coyle, named “Beatrice”. The couple is engaged to be married.  

Bring back Jodie!

Full house’s writer Jeff Franklin admits to having written Stephanie Tanner’s role keeping Jodie in mind as he was impressed with the 10 minutes role she had in the 80’s sitcom “Valerie”. When people believed in her talent as a child, why not do the same to the now 30 year old Jodie? An actor as proficient and gifted as Jodie must make more movies not just to regain her lost fame but also to prove to the world that a “grown-up” Jodie can act too!