"Was just a blackout drinker": Jodie Sweetin recalls her drinking addiction and battle with ADHD on podcast

Jodie Sweetin first captured hearts as the spunky middle sister Stephanie Tanner on the hit '90s sitcom Full House where she delivered iconic lines like "How rude!" across eight seasons from 1987 to 1995. 

In a recent episode of the Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast hosted by Michael Ketterer and Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, Jodie Sweetin opened up about her long battle with addiction and undiagnosed ADHD.

She shared-

"Well, the first time I ever drank, I was like 14… and it was at Candace’s wedding, and I was just a blackout drinker. The last thing I remember doing, I think, is somewhere around the M of a 'YMCA,' and I don’t remember anything from the rest of the night." 

Sweetin was recounting the 1996 reception for Cameron Bure's marriage to hockey player Valeri Bure. She admitted that at the age of 14 she sneaked red wine from waiters, downing glasses until the world blurred.

Born in 1982, Sweetin was just five when she landed the role of Stephanie which turned her into a child star navigating fame's glare alongside on-screen siblings like Candace Cameron Bure who played her older sister D.J. Tanner. 

After Full House wrapped, Sweetin reprised Stephanie in the Netflix reboot Fuller House from 2016 to 2020, and she now co-hosts the rewatch podcast How Rude, Tanneritos! with Andrea Barber, dissecting episodes with humor and hindsight.

The podcast dives into mental health, recovery and the vulnerabilities behind her public persona. It's part of the podcast's mix of wellness talks, celebrity interviews and on everything from fitness to personal traumas, drawing over a million listeners per episode for its candid vibe.

Jodie Sweetin opens up about her addiction and ADHD while rebuilding her career

By 15 or 16, Sweetin noticed her partying outpaced her friends'. She shared on the podcast-

"They(her friends) were like, ‘Bro, settle down,’ and I would be like, ‘Okay well now I’ve gotta find somebody I can do these drugs with. It was like finding different people that didn't make me feel so bad about what you were doing.”

She added- 

“It was awful and it was ugly and it was embarrassing and my mother was horrified.”

It wasn't rebellion for fun but it was an escape for Jodie. Full House had ended when she was 13, thrusting her into a world without scripts or spotlights. Drugs and alcohol became her companions which she couldn’t leave.

ADHD was diagnosed later in her life. She explained -

"I believe that I turned to substances because I struggled with ADHD and wanted to make my ‘brain work better.’" 

Undiagnosed as a kid, the condition left her mind racing as she tried to seek any fix to quiet it. She doesn't pin it on fame. She said-

"I always say, I would have struggled with addiction issues regardless of being on TV or not."

Her 2009 memoir UnSweetined talks about arrests, overdoses and a meth habit that nearly ended her.

Treatment came in her 20s but relapses hit hard. A car accident led to prescribed pills, derailing her again. Sobriety stuck after her 2008 marriage to Cody Herpin and the birth of daughters Zoie, now 17 and Beatrix, now 14, ended her addiction forever.

Today, she's 16 years sober from alcohol and 13 from pills. She reflected on this saying-

"It was up and down, it wasn’t perfect. I haven't had a perfect journey, but that really was the thing that changed everything that was like, 'Oh, okay. Party time's done. I gotta take care of somebody else.'"

She added-

"I think I knew for a very long time that I was heading down a road that it was going to be jail, institutions, or death, like they talk about in 12-step programs" 

Sweetin's career bounced back stronger. Fuller House let her reclaim Stephanie with maturity, blending nostalgia and growth. 

Off-screen, she's an advocate, sharing recovery stories to destigmatise ADHD and addiction. She quipped about those blackout days, now with wry distance, saying-

"Oh, that was fun. You didn’t give a s— about anything. You just don’t remember it," 

Her podcast candor inspires fans who are struggling with their own battles. Sweetin's courageous self owns it all, turning pain into purpose. 

Watch the full episode of Skinny Confidential Him & Her on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or on YouTube.

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