John Stamos' Life Was 'Shattered' After Divorce From 'Devil' Ex-Wife But He Found Love In His New Wife And Son

Jan 17, 2024

John Stamos has been a household name since the early 1980s when he rose to fame in the role of Blackie Parrish on “General Hospital.” Additional TV work eventually led him to his most iconic role as Uncle Jesse on “Full House,” and this only cemented his status as a handsome hunk of his time. The last few decades have seen the actor continue to work in television and even reprise his role in the reboot, “Fuller House.”

But beyond his acting work, Stamos has also had quite the journey in love. After dating and marrying model Rebecca Romijn in the mid-’90s, the couple ended up divorcing ten years later. In the following years, Stamos wasn’t linked to anyone romantically, so it was all the more heartbreaking when he began to voice his desire to have children. It’s funny to think that although his character in “Full House,” Uncle Jesse, was the rather irresponsible one, Stamos was nothing like that in real life. It seemed that the heartthrob was then just waiting to find the right woman to settle down with.

Then, he finally met the model and actress Caitlin McHugh, and their story is an absolutely adorable one. After meeting while working together, the couple’s romance didn’t begin immediately. But eventually, things fell into place. After proposing at McHugh’s favorite place in the world — Disneyland — the couple announced they were expecting their first child together in 2017. Their son Billy Stamos was born in April 2018, and ever since, Stamos has been a doting dad, frequently posting to his social media channels.

Having turned 60 in 2023, Stamos is clearly living the life he always wanted and expressed that he’s content with where he stands right now in his life and his career.

Born in California on Aug. 19, 1963, to a second-generation Greek-American restaurateur, Stamos’ last name is actually a shortened form of his birth name, Stamatopoulos. He decided he wanted to be an actor early on, and after only three weeks, he lucked out and got his first role as Blackie Parrish on “General Hospital.” What an entry into Hollywood!

Stamos made his name on the show and was even nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 1984. But it wasn’t until the late ’80s, when he appeared in “Full House,” that Stamos truly made his mark on Hollywood. He played Jesse Katsopolis, having asked the producers to give his character a Greek name to honor his heritage. The show would propel Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, young girls at the time, into the stratosphere while also cementing the careers of a number of other actors, including Stamos’ close friend Bob Saget.

After the show ended in 1995, Stamos played a varied number of roles often grounded in comedy, even appearing in episodes of “Friends,” “Glee” and “Two and a Half Men.” He even went back to the medical world, appearing in “ER” as Dr. Tony Gates from 2005 to 2009.

But fans of “Full House” couldn’t believe it when Netflix announced in 2015 that they would be reviving the show, to be called “Fuller House,” for a 2016 release.

The 60-year-old actor also played the lead role in the 2021 sports dramedy “Big Shot” as a basketball coach at a private girl’s school. Reviews of the show have mostly been positive, with Entertainment Weekly critic Kristen Baldwin writing that Stamos is “capable of delivering dry wit and sweet sentiment in equal measure.”

When his first marriage ended, Stamos found himself as successful as ever but without anyone to share that with. Well, that all changed when he met model and actress Caitlin McHugh. Although the couple didn’t start dating until 2015, they actually first met in 2011 when they both appeared on an episode of “Law & Order: SVU.” 

When they co-starred together, McHugh was in a relationship, so nothing happened at the time. Years later, her roommate appeared in an episode of “Fuller House,” and McHugh found herself on the set in the audience. That’s when they crossed paths again, with Stamos recounting the story in the same interview with People:

“I walked in, I went, ‘Hey, are you stalking me?’ She was like, ‘No.’… That’s why I love her. She’s like, ‘What? No. I haven’t thought of you twice.’”

With two coincidences surrounding how they met up, there are certainly signs that these two lovebirds were meant to be. After finding true love, they turned their focus to marriage and children.

Both Stamos and McHugh clearly knew that this relationship was the one and, therefore, wasted little time in taking the next steps. By October 2017, Stamos had proposed to McHugh after two years of dating. The proposal took place at Disneyland — McHugh’s favorite place in the world — and happened after they watched an incredibly sweet video. It featured some of the most romantic scenes from Disney and Pixar movies before ending with “The Little Mermaid’s” Sebastian saying “Just ask the girl” to Stamos. As the actor wrote on his Instagram post revealing their engagement:

“I asked...she said yes! ...And we lived happily ever after💍” 

Just two months after announcing they were engaged, they revealed McHugh was pregnant! It turns out they had tried to have a baby, and upon learning they had conceived, Stamos insisted on proposing straight away. He told People:

“We have the same morals and the same values, that all clicked nicely. So we said, ‘Oh, well, maybe we should have a family.’” 

He goes on to say that McHugh suggested they should have a child before they got married. When Stamos asked her “Why?” she replied jokingly, “Because you’re old.” Stamos goes on to explain how the timing of the pregnancy and proposal occurred:

“The (pregnancy) happened. Then I said, I better have a ring on her finger because it’s the right thing to do, and I wanted to marry her anyway. So I called her parents to ask, and it was like, ‘You better!’”

Five months after getting engaged, the couple got married in a small service in Los Angeles while McHugh was glowing during her pregnancy. Just a few months after that, she would give birth to their son William Christopher Stamos, whom they endearingly call Billy.

In 2021, Stamos looked back on the magical day in an Instagram post on their 3rd wedding anniversary. 

“Happy Anniversary Love, Our fairy tale has just begun. Can’t wait to continue our adventure together- as soon as I get out of quarantine! Love you forever, J,” he wrote alongside a photo of them kissing on their wedding day. 

Fans have showered the couple with love in the comment section. 

“Aww! Happy anniversary! You guys are so sweet!” a user said. 

“Anyone else think John was the sweetest uncle and dad? He was so affectionate and sweet to the babies on full house. 😍😍😍,” another gushed.

Despite his success as an actor, it seems that the role Stamos wished to play all his life was as a father. Even while playing Uncle Jesse, it was clear that Stamos had the dad gene in him. In fact, his co-stars on “Full House,” Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber and Jodie Sweetin, told ET that Stamos was the “baby whisperer” of the cast. It turns out, there were always children in the future for Stamos, as he once joked to US Weekly that he wanted children so badly that his “ovaries were rattling.” 

“It’s just taken me a lot longer than I anticipated. It would be a tragedy if I didn’t have children and I finally found the right woman — the perfect woman,” he told Entertainment Tonight. 

In an interview with People Magazine before his son was even born, Stamos confessed that he had “always wanted to be a dad.” 

“People would say, ‘You should have a child,’” he recalled to People Magazine at the time. “I was like, ‘That ship has sailed.’ “ 

But when they learned of the life-changing news, Stamos promised to be a “fun dad.” 

“I’ve been practicing for a long time,” he jokingly said. “I’ve done every schtick you can do with a baby on TV … all the bits and jokes and diaper gags. I’ll probably just do all that stuff.”

Named after Stamos’ dad, the actor welcomed his first child and shared the news with the world by posting a beautiful black-and-white photo of him cuddling his newborn son. He captioned the post, “From now on, the best part of me will always be my wife and my son.” In his usual cheeky style, he even added the hashtag “#NotJustAnUncleAnymore.”

It’s clear fatherhood really suits Stamos. To celebrate his son’s third birthday in 2021, the star shared a video montage on Instagram featuring the birthday boy in a series of fun and adorable bathroom selfies with his father. As if the birthday tribute couldn’t get any more heartwarming, John also set the slideshow to The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” an emotional love song from the 1960s.

“I can’t put into words the magnitude of the love I feel for this little guy. Happy Birthday Son. God only knows what I’d be without you. #aftershowerseries,” Stamos wrote on Instagram alongside the shower selfie slideshow.

In an April 2021 interview with ET, Stamos opened up about his relatively new role as a father.

“It’s much harder than I ever thought,” Stamos told ET. “I’ve been around kids my whole life, on TV shows (and) my nieces and nephews. I also wanted to be a father, and my wife does most of it, but boy is it a responsibility.”

While Stamos was a parenting novice in his mid-50s, he took his role as a father seriously.

“At the end of the day, you don’t want a trophy and you don’t ‘win,’ you don’t get a ring. But if you do it right, you’ve raised a kid that’s loving enough, that’s smart enough, and that’s caring enough to be a better version of yourself,” Stamos said in his interview with ET. “I get choked up thinking about it.”

As for what sage advice Stamos planned on teaching his son, the actor explained that he wanted Billy to always strive to do his best.

At one point, he even encouraged Ryan Seacrest to have a child, describing that living life with a child has transformed him – attesting that life’s colors became more vibrant after having a child. 

“I’m looking out the window right now and … I see all kinds of different colors. Different poop colors,” he joked. “There’s green, there’s yellow, I saw some blue this morning which I thought was weird. No, you know, people are probably sick of me saying I always wanted a kid but it just happened and I guess I was waiting for the perfect wife, which I have. Caitlin, she’s been so graceful through this whole thing. I hope you [Sisanie] have a delivery like she did because it was about 20 minutes. 

Stamos couldn’t help but speak highly of her wife, McHugh. In another interview with People Magazine, he had this to say: 

“Everybody thinks it’s so easy. The hard part was me,” he explained. “Like I wasn’t the best me. I was ready, but no one as perfect as Caitlin — a true, pure beautiful person inside — would’ve never gone for the old me, a few years ago.”

In December 2023, the family of three enjoys the beauty of life. Thanks to Stamos’ connections in Hollywood, they were invited to the premiere screening of the film “Wonka.” 

“We got the golden ticket to the premiere of @wonkamovie last night! It was such a treat to bring Billy with us to this one. He was so excited and we all loved the movie. Thanks for having us! Go see #WonkaMovie this weekend 🍫,” he wrote in the caption along with a video of the three of them smiling before the press, with Billy in all smiles. 

But before Stamos achieved this level of contentment and state of happiness, he drowned in the depths of depression after his divorce from Romjin. In 2004, People Magazine reported that Stamos had filed for the papers of his divorce from Romjin following a five-year marriage. 

He detailed the devastating aftermath of his divorce in his memoir, “If You Would Have Told Me.” 

“My first marriage was shattering to me. I was shattered for way too long, too,” he recalled in an exclusive interview with People Magazine. “I mean, a year, okay, good. But it went on [for] years and years.”

Stamos described writing the chapters of his memoir about her previous marriage to be “really difficult” as he had to reflect on it. 

“In my mind back then, she was the Devil, and I just hated her,” he confessed. “I couldn’t believe how much I hated her, and it ruined my life.” 

He even detailed his journey through Alcoholics Anonymous in one part. 

“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.’,” he wrote. 

After his sponsor asked him that – Stamos turned a corner and realized that he might also have a part in the demise of his first marriage. 

Stamos also expounded on the public perception at the time that they split up because of their different career trajectories. As his offers declined, Romjin’s career soared after her successful stint in the “X-Men” franchise. 

Are you a fan of John Stamos? What can you say about his marriage with Rebecca Romjin? Do you think he deserved to find someone like his new wife? Let us know, and pass this on to your family, friends, and other John Stamos fans out there!