It’s hard to imagine Full House without the Olsen Twins sharing the role of Michelle Tanner, but that’s something that almost happened, thanks to John Stamos. The classic sitcom featured Stamos as Jesse Katsopolis, aka Uncle Jesse, a man who moves into the San Francisco home of his brother-in-law, Danny Tanner (Bob Saget), following the death of Danny’s wife. Their friend Joey Gladstone, aka Uncle Joey (Dave Coulier) also moves in to help the two with raising Danny’s three daughters: DJ (Candace Cameron Bure), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), and Michelle (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen).
The Olsen Twins would grow up to become superstars throughout their childhoods following the immense success of Full House. They have since switched over to working in the fashion industry where they have found even greater success. Their lives likely would have been much different as well if their brief firing from the show when they were babies had stayed permanent. As Stamos explains on a recent interview for the Good Guys podcast (per Insider), he was driven so batty by the Olsen Twins when first working with the then-babies that he demanded their recasting.
“We’re doing the scene,” Stamos explains, referring to a scene from the pilot with Joey and Jesse struggling to change Michelle. “Joey and I were changing the baby, right? And Danny’s gone and said, ‘Take care of the kids.’ ‘Yeah, we got it. We got it.’ So, we’re carrying the baby downstairs and we take her in the kitchen and we hose her down. And she was screaming. Both of them. They wanted to be anywhere else but there, and so did I.”
Related: Dave Coulier Wants to Make Fullest House to Help Keep Bob Saget’s Legacy Alive
John Stamos Knew He Made a Mistake
ABC
Stamos further expressed how producers tried to ease his frustrations at the time by rotating out the twin babies when one would start crying. The problem was that both Mary-Kate and Ashley continued to cry, no matter which one was being used for the scene. As the actor goes on to explain, he had the twins recast at that point, though it wasn’t long before he realized that this was a big mistake.
“They were 11 months old, and God bless them,” Stamos recalled. “They kept switching: ‘This one’s not gonna cry.’ I couldn’t deal with it. And I said, ‘This is not gonna work.’ And so they got rid of them.”
Stamos added, “They bring on these two redheaded kids… I’m sure their parents loved them and thought they were attractive… It was only a few days, and I said, ‘Bring the Olsens back! These kids are terrible.'”
It’s clear now that the right decision was made to bring back the Olsen Twins. The former performers have also not forgotten the TV family from their youth, as even though the pair didn’t want to come out of acting retirement to work on Fuller House, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have remained close with the other Full House stars on a personal level.
“Ashley and Mary-Kate… I love so much,” Bob Saget said in 2021 before his passing last year, via E! News. “When I’m in New York or when they’re here, when we can, we see each other.”
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