Even in the wake of his death, Bob Saget still has a lot to teach his TV daughter, Jodie Sweetin.
As Full House fans know, Jodie played the actor’s middle child, Stephanie Tanner, in the original sitcom and its Netflix reboot, Fuller House. Sitting down to chat about the late comedian with Entertainment Tonight’s Lauren Zima on Monday, Sweetin opened up about how she is processing Bob’s sudden death on January 9. Taking a page out of his book, Jodie admitted:
“The thing that I keep remembering and I keep saying is that, Bob, he suffered so much loss in his life. His sisters and other siblings that passed before he was born and his parents, there was a lot of loss in Bob’s life.”
Not only did Bob lose his parents, but his sisters Andrea (“Andi“) and Gay also passed away in their 30s and 40s, respectfully, from various illnesses. Despite suffering these heartbreaks, he always stayed positive and leaned on humor in dark times.
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This is something that Jodie — who was just five years old when she met the beloved stand-up star — is trying to remind herself about as she mourns.
“But he walked through it with humor, and he learned that from his dad, Ben. One of the things I just remember him trying to joke and laugh and make those inappropriate jokes at some of the darker things because…otherwise how do you deal with it? How do you process it? It weighs down on you and that’s something that I will always remember and that I find I do now is I deal with things through laughter or maybe I don’t deal with things.”
While reflecting on what she’s taken away from her time with the 65-year-old, the Just Swipe lead mused:
“When someone passes, all the sudden you think about all the things that you’ve learned from them and how important they’ve been. And I just realized so much of his genuineness and his kindness and his ability to help others really impacted me.”
Jodie also took a moment to express how deeply the entire Full House cast and crew cared for each other, especially those who were on the show since its start in 1987.
“When we would say it over the years, and still even as much as we’ve said it and as much as people have seen it, I really don’t think anyone can truly understand just how close we really, really were. And what a family we were and everyone that came to visit our set always said what a special experience it was. People that worked on our set were like, ‘I’ve never worked on a set like this.’ And it started back in ’86, ’87 with that core Full House family group of people.”
As the one-month anniversary of Bob’s death approaches, the Merry & Bright star is realizing that “life is in session right now,” explaining that “life keeps going” after a tragedy. She processes the loss one day at a time, sharing:
“I’m OK now. It was an incredible shock and I think those first two weeks were really, really a lot. And as it happens, you walk through and you process it. But I will say, I’m so grateful that I got to spend so much time with everyone and when someone passes, it’s always that thing where it’s like, ‘Wow, Bob, all the stories and all of the laughs and all of the wonderful things,’ and I just keep saying that Bob would have loved that everyone was talking about him. (laughs). He would’ve been like, ‘Oh, this is so great! I mean, I don’t deserve it, but tell me more.’”
Speaking of Saget’s intimate funeral which took place on January 14, the actress said it was a nice chance to get to connect with co-stars, including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen who stayed close to Bob despite not returning to the revival.
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She recalled:
“It was a beautiful service and, you know, what’s strange is, I don’t think I was physically there, but emotionally. Like, I have flashes of remembering it was so overwhelming. I didn’t get up to speak at his funeral, that was for, obviously, his wife and his children, but we all sat around telling jokes. All Bob’s comedian friends that I’ve known, you know, for years, Jeff Ross and Bill Burr and Mike Binder, all these guys celebrating Bob by sitting around and laughing and telling stories, I think was really the greatest gift and send-off that we could’ve given him.”
ET also asked the former Dancing With The Stars contestant to describe the How I Met Your Mother star’s signature hug, which so many celebs have remembered him for. The 40-year-old said:
“It was genuine, it was real, he took a moment with it and he would give you a hug and nuzzle his [head] because he was so tall. And I just remember he’d lean in and put his head on your shoulder, and I just have so many great hugs from Bob. I remember that as an adult, everything, and he’d see me and go, ‘Jo!’ and he’d just give me this big hug and I can hear it. I can hear his voice when he would give me a hug, and so I’ll always remember that.”
Whoa… you can tell Jodie really savored his hugs by her lengthy description! It’s so special to hear Sweetin share such loving sentiments about the life lessons she learned from her TV dad. While the storylines might have been fictional, their bond was clearly as real as ever!
[Image via Netflix/YouTube & Jodie Sweetin/Instagram]
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