Talking to Howard Stern about his memoir, Stamos admitted his split from the model “wasn’t her fault” and said he now knows some of the trouble stemmed from his habit to “just give 50, 60% in anything”
John Stamos is getting honest about the concerted efforts he could have made to both his career and his past marriage.
During an appearance on Sirius XM’s The Howard Stern Show, the Full House alum, 60, opened up about his marriage to his ex-wife Rebecca Romijn and how his disappointment about his early career trajectory had affected their relationship.
Stamos admitted that he stopped prioritizing his career while watching the Victoria’s Secret model’s career skyrocket, which made him feel “emasculated” in their marriage.
“I loved her and I thought she was super talented. So I was happy to do that,” he said of helping Romijn, 50, take her acting career off the ground. “But I forgot about my own stuff. She was taking off and I just wasn’t paying attention to mine. And it wasn’t her fault.”
The Scream Queens star continued, “I mean, you know, you just get wrapped up in these things. I said ‘You know what? I’ve had enough fame, I’m okay. Let’s put the spotlight on her.’ And I loved watching it. I think that she outgrew me.”
Stamos recalled giving everything in his life – including his marriage – “50, 60 percent” of his effort thinking, “’Well, my 50% is better than you know 99% of the people out there. I don’t have to give it all.’”
“I didn’t work on anything. I didn’t work as hard as I should at anything,” he added, noting that his “career and my life would have been a lot better” had he concentrated his effort into these areas of his life.
Matt Winkelmeyer/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
John Stamos
Related: Rebecca Romijn Talks Fond Memories of Ex-Husband John Stamos: ‘A Lot of Things About Him I Miss’
When Stern asked if at that point their marriage had been “doomed,” Stamos admitted he didn’t believe his marriage to Romijn could have worked, though he acknowledged he could have tried harder to save it.
Stamos and Romijn got engaged in 1997 and wed in September 1998. Stamos filed for divorce in August 2004 and it was finalized the following year.
Related: John Stamos Hints That Dating Lori Loughlin Was a Real Possibility Before He Met Rebecca Romijn
In his upcoming memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, out now, Stamos got candid about the ups and downs of his love story with Romijn along with the aftermath of their early 2000s divorce.
“My first marriage was shattering to me. I was shattered for way too long, too,” Stamos recently told PEOPLE. “I mean, a year, okay, good. But it went on [for] years and years.”
“In my mind back then, she was the Devil, and I just hated her,” he admitted. “I couldn’t believe how much I hated her, and it ruined my life.”
He continued to explain that back then, “one of the steps in AA, the fourth step, is you lay out all your grievances, everything that people did to you. And then I said, ‘Oh, she did this, she did that, blah, blah, she did blah, blah.’ And then my sponsor goes, ‘Now what part did you play in that?’ And I go, like, ‘None.'”
The Big Shot actor eventually recognized he had “some part” in his first marriage’s demise after his sponsor pressed him further. “You start thinking, it’s like, ‘Oh, she wasn’t the Devil. Maybe I was as much to blame as her.'”
Hatnim Lee/WireImage
Rebecca Romijn
From his perspective, Stamos — who hasn’t seen Romijn since their joint meeting with their divorce attorneys — felt his now ex-wife “was trying to make it work because she cared” about him before they eventually split.
“It was very much the opinion that she dumped me because her career was going great and mine wasn’t, and that’s humiliating,” he continued. “I don’t blame her for it. It was just the perception that people took, and maybe they weren’t wrong. She was doing great at that time and I wasn’t.”
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John Stamos’ memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, is available now wherever books are sold.
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Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
