John Stamos was not happy with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen when they declined to appear in Fuller House, Netflix’s sequel series to the beloved ’90s sitcom Full House. They patched up their relationship after Bob Saget’s death though, and the former co-stars have remained close ever since. The Olsen twins brought a strange gift as a peace offering, Stamos revealed.
During a stop on the And That’s What You Really Missed podcast with former Glee stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, the two hosts talked about how Naya Rivera’s death helped them reconnect with Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy. Stamos had a similar experience after Saget died. The comedian was the one who stayed in contact with the Full House cast after the show ended, and was even still close to Mary-Kate and Ashley, whereas Stamos was not. Stamos admitted to being “angry” with the Olsen twins when they refused to return for Fuller House.
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“Mary-Kate and Ashley, we didn’t see them much. I mean, we stayed in touch a little bit, but Bob really did,” Stamos explained. “And they were so great. You hear rumors, ‘Oh, they hated their childhood’ or ‘They hated being on the show’ or whatever…but they were like, ‘We loved our childhood. We loved being with you. We miss Bob.’”
The sisters later came over to Stamos and brought him pork chop and sage as a peace offering. “I don’t know why, but thank you?” Stamos said. “It was a frozen pork chop, so that was really nice. So we stayed close.”
Back in 2016, Stamos told The Hollywood Reporter he was not in contact with the Olsen twins. He believed he should have personally reached out to them about appearing in Fuller House instead of going to their agent first. “We love each other, but we’re not in contact – I mean, I didn’t have a phone number on them,” Stamos said at the time. “I’d see them in New York once in a while and it was always very sweet. But that didn’t happen, so I think they sort of said, ‘Nobody asked us.’ I thought we did, through their people, but I don’t know if that happened. They said, ‘We don’t even have agents. We don’t know who you’re talking about.’”
Stamos later met with Mary-Kate to talk at length about it. She was “sort of interested in talking about it,” but asked him to call Ashley too. He didn’t, but the producers kept trying unsuccessfully to get them. The two also have not acted in a long time, as they are now fashion moguls in New York City. “You know, you’d have to talk to them, but I hear rumblings that it wasn’t their choice, I guess, to be in that show when they were kids, so I think – again, I can’t speak for them – but I have heard that they don’t have the best of memories of it, and they kind of just want to move on,” Stamos told THR.
After Saget died in January 2022, the Olsen twins paid tribute to their on-screen father with a heartbreaking statement, calling the comedian the “most loving, compassionate and generous man.” They said they were “deeply saddened that he is no longer with us but know that he will continue to be by our side to guide us as gracefully as he always has” and sent their condolences to his daughters, wife, and family.
