Beloved comedian and TV dad Bob Saget passed away tragically after hitting his head in a hotel room seven months ago and his absence has left a hole in a lot of people’s lives. His death was felt particularly hard by actress Jodie Sweetin, who played his daughter Stephanie on “Full House” in its original ABC run from 1987 to 1995 and reprised the role on “Fuller House” from 2016 to 2020.
She was cast in the role at the age of 5, and after Saget died, she memorialized him on Instagram using her famous catchphrase:
I would always say “you’re the best TV dad ever.” And he was.
I’ll miss you, Bob.
I’ll make sure and tell an inappropriate joke at your funeral. In your honor. I know you would’ve wanted that.
But you were supposed to be here longer…
How rude.
Before her marriage to Mescal Wasilewski on July 30 in Malibu, California, Sweetin told People that Saget would be dearly missed at her wedding.
“I can think of all of these big life moments when he made a speech,” the actress told People. “I think weddings and moments like this, you always think about the people that you really wish could be there, and Bob has been there through so many moments of my life.
“So yeah, he will definitely be missed, and I know he never liked to miss an opportunity to get up with a microphone,” she added. Funny enough, Saget was at her wedding, all because of her TV uncle, John Stamos, and his wife Caitlin McHugh.
Sweetin told E! News’ “Daily Pop” that when Stamos was leaving the house for her wedding, McHugh handed him a black shirt. After putting it on he realized it was a little big on him and then had a powerful realization.
“He realized it was one of the shirts that Kelly [Rizzo] had given him out of Bob’s closet,” Sweetin said. “And it was this black button-up that like Bob would always wear. Bob always had a black button-up on.”
Kelly Rizzo was Saget’s wife. They were married in 2018.
When Sweetin learned it was Saget’s shirt she was comforted to know that he was “there in his weird little way.”
“I hugged John and then, I like kissed the shirt and I was like, ‘Bob’s here too,'” she said. Then, Stamos told her, “I have to tell you like Bob had to be here. He just had to be here for this.”
Sweetin’s genuine affection for Saget and her “Full House” co-stars after all of these years is beautiful given the history that child stars have of being mistreated in Hollywood. They may have played a family on TV but it’s clear that they had a close relationship in real life as well. That’s probably why the show worked so well.
“I remember Bob always being funny and warm and kind to us kids, to everyone,” Sweetin told Today. “He really was like the glue that held us all together, in a lot of ways. He was kind of the head figure of that little family.”