In the weeks since Bob Saget passed away, there’s been an outpouring of love and kind words about the man many people considered to be “America’s Dad.”
Of all the people Saget loved — and by all accounts, those were a lot — there were few he held as close to his heart as his Full House family. But as John Stamos told the New York Times this week, that hadn’t always been the case.
At Saget’s funeral, Stamos recalled being approached by Saget’s ex-wife and mother of his three daughters, Sherri Kramer. “He loved you so much. He loved you so much. But in the beginning, he hated you,” she told him. “He would come home and he was so jealous of you. He would just complain about you so much.”
Stamos then added how when his junior high school drama teacher emailed with condolences after Saget’s death, he reminded him that he had been “really unhappy with [Bob]” in those early days.
However, he concedes, the root of their problems boiled down to the fact that while Saget was a comedian, Stamos had a more dramatic acting style. And those styles did not always mesh.
Our styles completely clashed. He was a comic. If there was even one person on the set, he had to make them laugh. And I was, “Where is the drama?” I think we met in the middle. But we both went in kicking and screaming, not wanting to bend what we do.
He could be painfully distracting — disruptive — because you’re here, let’s get this scene, let’s find out what works, what doesn’t. And he’s like [punching the air as if for each joke], “Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.” I’d go, “Bob.” He couldn’t stop it. I think, if I may say, that it could have been a detriment sometimes to him.
As frustrated as he was on those early days on set, Stamos continued, explaining how those early growing pains only helped solidify their bond.
But here’s the deal with him: He found a balance like nobody I’ve ever seen. He would make up for all of that with just as much love or more. I had so many people call me, saying what Bob meant to them and how he helped them. He was maniacally of service at all times.
As we know now, Stamos and Saget remained incredibly close over the years, even after Full House wrapped its initial eight-season run. Stamos went on to detail how he and Saget were always there for one another as the years passed, through family deaths and divorces, and how at one point they were “like a married couple.”
Though, he admitted, at that point, he gently recommended his therapist to Saget.
“I looked at this video of us of the last episode of Full House, the final bows,” Stamos recalled. “We all gathered around, and Bob eventually walked over and he hugged me, kissed me. But I don’t know how close I was to him at the end there. I didn’t think I needed a Bob in my life. I had my parents. I had my faith. I had whatever.”
