Jodie Sweetin has opened up about the realities of being an actor, revealing she recently received a very low residual check for her breakout show, Full House.
The actor joined the hit sitcom at just five years old, playing Danny Tanner’s (portrayed by the late Bob Saget) middle daughter, Stephanie, from 1987 to 1995. Sweetin returned to the reboot of the sitcom, Fuller House, from 2016 to 2020, working alongside several castmates from the original series, including Candace Cameron Bure and Andrea Barber.
Now 44, Sweetin shared the truth about her continued payments from the original series on a recent episode of The McBride Rewind podcast, saying: “I got a one cent [residual] check the other day.”
“There's no syndication anymore because it's all in streaming,” she continued of the diminished long-term payments she gets for the show’s reruns. “Who gets paid for that? Nobody gets paid for that.
“Sure, in my twenties, there would be money, but not reliable,” she continued. “You don't know how much it's going to be or how often they're going to run the show. So, sometimes you're like, ‘Oh, cool. That was nice.’ Then sometimes you're like, ‘All right, well, there's a nice dinner out.’ You just kind of don’t know, and it’s not something you can rely on.”
Despite the success of the sitcom, Sweetin said that she’s not living “an extravagant life.”
“Honey, I drive my 2023 used Hyundai Sonata that I love. I rent my house. I have credit cards that are maxed out,” she explained. “I live a normal life. There are moments when you're like, ‘This is going well,’ and there are times when you're like, ‘I need a day job.’
“I'll be honest, I’ll do it sometimes too, where like I'll see somebody and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh, what! Why are you—.’ And then I’m like, A**hole, they’re a working actor too. Like everybody’s got to have a job.”
In the years since Fuller House ended, Sweetin has spoken about her relationships with her co-stars, including Bure, who sits on a different side of the political spectrum. In recent years, Bure has been outspoken about her conservative Christian beliefs, while Sweetin is known for her liberal and progressive activism, some of which has supported the LGBTQIA+ community.
During a March episode of the Only Child with Bob the Drag Queen podcast, host Bob the Drag Queen suggested to Sweetin that “Candace has gone a little bit Dave Chappelle-y” in reference to the controversial comedian.
“[She] does her thing,” Sweetin said of Bure. “And, you know, we sit on very opposite sides of things and I’m just, kind of, a loud outspoken b**** about a lot of things, and that’s not going to stop me. And if that ain’t you, that ain’t you.”
