John Stamos is opening up about his painful divorce from ex-wife Rebecca Romijn.
The Full House actor, 62, began dating Romijn, 53, in 1994 and they tied the knot in 1998. However, the relationship came to an end six years later, and their divorce was finalized in 2005.
“It broke my heart. I didn’t want to get divorced,” Stamos admitted during a June 10 appearance on Bobbi Althoff’s “The Really Good Podcast.”
He added, “She wanted to [get divorced]. It took me a long time to get over, but I have to say that … she has a nice life, she married another guy, they have kids, they’re doing great.”
Romijn married actor Jerry O’Connell in December 2007. The stars share twin daughters, Charlie and Dolly, 17.
Stamos, meanwhile, married actress and model Caitlin McHugh in 2018. They share a son, Billy, 8.
During his podcast appearance, Stamos recalled recently bumping into O’Connell, 52, at a party.
“I met him recently. It was very interesting. He was very sweet. He was very nice,” he said. “We were at a party together and he came over and he was super nice. He couldn’t have been sweeter. He was very, very funny and very charming.”
While Stamos said he’d “met [O’Connell] once maybe 20, 30 years ago,” he added of Romijn, “I haven’t seen her since we got divorced.”
In his 2023 memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, Stamos opened up about the demise of his relationship with Romijn, which she later said “blindsided” her.
“As I’m lifting Rebecca up, I’m losing myself. … She makes it clear that I’m the TV guy and she’s the newly minted star. … Somewhere deep inside, I start to believe it,” he wrote at the time.
According to the ER alum, there were “ups and downs” throughout the couple’s marriage.
“But through all that, there’s zero talk about having kids and starting a family,” he wrote. “This was always our plan. Our dream. It feels as though she doesn’t share that dream with me anymore.”
According to Stamos, the X-Men actress was too “busy with her career and new friends” to notice that he was “slipping away.”
He wrote, “We’re trying new things and growing, but not together,” adding that it felt “harder to make time for each other, slow down, disconnect from the chaos of the world, and make eye contact again.”
Ultimately, however, “She smiles at me a little less, doesn’t look me in the eyes over dinner, takes phone calls in the other room,” Stamos wrote. “Betrayal starts as a sinking feeling in your stomach, grows into a suspicion that clouds your every thought, and by the time you find out the truth, it’s uniquely horrible at first but also expected, like you’ve been waiting for something bad to happen. There’s nothing more to say. There’s a point of no return, and what felt like a phase is now her phasing me out for good.”
