Jodie Sweetin Says Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Missed Out on a Normal Childhood

Jodie Sweetin is speaking about her former Full House co-stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, saying the twins had a very different childhood from her own.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen began acting at 9 months old, sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House from 1987 to 1995. They later starred in more than 30 films together before stepping away from acting and the public spotlight.

In an interview with SheKnows, Sweetin, 44, said the twins worked constantly as children and did not have the same chance to live a normal childhood that she did.

“They worked all the time and they didn’t get the chance to just be normal kids in the way that I did,” Sweetin said. She added that her own parents protected her from the pressures of money and fame.

Sweetin also addressed the twins’ decision not to appear in Fuller House, the Netflix sequel series that ran from 2016 to 2020. She said she was disappointed at first but understood their choice.

“They were 8 years old when this show stopped,” Sweetin said, noting that the sisters went on to spend years making movies and pursuing other projects.

She emphasized that there was no conflict between the twins and the Full House cast. “There wasn’t drama,” she said, adding that everyone remains on good terms with the Olsens.

Today, Mary-Kate and Ashley are best known for their luxury fashion company, The Row, which they founded in 2005.