John Stamos's Candid Words About Finding The Love Of His Life At 50

Jan 26, 2022

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." More 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 on "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 finally, he met 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 was born in April 2018, and ever since, Stamos has been a doting dad, frequently posting to his social media channels.

Even with all of 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 he had the dad gene in him. In fact, his co-stars on "Full House," Candace Cameron Bure, Andrea Barber and Jodie Sweetin, told PEOPLE that Stamos was the "baby whisperer" of the cast. It turns out there were always children in the future for him, as he once joked to US Weekly that he wanted children so badly that his "ovaries were rattling." He later told ET:

"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."

Well, thankfully, he found the perfect woman in his then-future wife, Caitlin McHugh. In the same interview with US Weekly, he described McHugh as a "gentle, kind, graceful soul who would be a good mother." They both 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💍" 

Stamos was known as a bit of a bad boy back in the day, or at least that was the image he portrayed on screen. Today, his life is very different and he couldn't be happier. "I always wanted to have kids, but I didn't think I'd meet the right person," Stamos said to People. "And maybe I felt like well, I have everything, I shouldn't be greedy."

The actor credits his wife for helping him straighten out his life. "I wasn't deserving of it yet I think. But six years ago, I sobered up and I became a better person. And when Caitlin came around, I recognized it immediately. I said, 'I have to be good for that to make it work,'" he said.

When the couple first met, they didn't know they would one day share blissful family life with each other. As Stamos told PEOPLE in 2017, the both of them met each other on the set of the popular TV show "Law & Order: SVU" in 2011, long before they even started dating. In hindsight, the characters they played turned out to be especially ironic, as Stamos explained:

"I played a guy who was so egotistical that he thought he should spread his progeny, so he had like 60 kids or something. He was poking holes in condoms and stuff. And Caitlin, ironically, was one of the girls that I was trying to fool and have a baby with."

In 2019, the actor also told the magazine that he'd always wished for a big family and a wonderful woman to share his life with. Speaking candidly, the actor explained: "I waited a long time for a kid. I just had to meet the right person to do it with."

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