John Stamos And Lori Loughlin: The Untold Truth Of Their Relationship

John Stamos and Lori Loughlin's longtime relationship is the epitome of friendship goals. These two shot to stardom together in the '80s with their iconic performances as lovebirds Jesse Katsopolis and Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis on Full House.

After the hit ABC series went off the air in 1995, Stamos went on to guest-star on a number of shows, pursue stage work, and land a starring role on ER in the mid-2000s. He also began executive producing the Netflix reboot series, Fuller House, in 2015. Meanwhile, Loughlin co-created and starred on The WB's Summerland in 2004, before scoring lead roles on The CW's 90210 and When Calls the Heart.

Despite the occasional lulls in their post-Full House careers, these TV stars had worked steadily before reuniting on the small screen in the family sitcom's revamp. While there's much to be said about the ongoing romance between their on-screen counterparts, how much do you really know about this duo's real-life relationship? Here are a few facts that might surprise you.

The number one question on the mind of every Jesse and Becky fan is undoubtedly this: did these two ever get together in real life? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. Before playing one of TV's most beloved couples, John Stamos and Lori Loughlin came up together in the early '80s soap opera circuit, respectively starring on General Hospital and The Edge of Night.

"We were friends ... and we actually did date," Stamos told HuffPost of their pre-Full House days in 2013. "We went on a date to Disneyland ... when we were 18, 19 years old."

However, Loughlin has maintained that their alleged romantic tryst was merely platonic. "Now, she says it wasn't a date or something, but I say when you make out on the Matterhorn it's a date, right?" Stamos said to BuzzFeed in 2017, while the actress chimed in with, "I say, 'Why do you tell people that we made out on the Matterhorn?' And he goes, 'Because it sounds funny!' I think the real truth is we're too old to remember."

If Full House fans had it their way, John Stamos and Lori Loughlin would have followed their on-screen characters' lead and gotten married in real life. While social media users tend to remind the actress of this fact on the daily, she and her actual husband of over 20 years, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, actually aren't too bothered by it.

"My husband loves John so much," Loughlin told Fox News (via Page Six) in 2016. "In fact, on my Instagram when people comment you know, 'You should marry John Stamos' and 'You should be with John,' he always comments, 'I agree. She should have married John Stamos.' He has a very good sense of humor about it and they're very good friends."

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight two years later, she admitted that she's become "completely numb" to the level of emotional involvement in this push for a real-life romance. "I actually think it's very sweet," Loughlin said, "that they really want to see this on-screen couple that they love so much be an off-screen couple too." Stamos agreed with this sentiment, telling People in 2012, "Well, we had ... this undeniable chemistry. People loved seeing us together."

John Stamos and Lori Loughlin may remember the origins of their relationship a bit differently, but do they, like their fans, ever consider what might have been? "We did have some off timing," Stamos admitted to HuffPost. "But no disrespect to her family and her husband now, I would say that she could be the one that got away."

When asked by E! News if the feelings were mutual, Loughlin simply said, "Oh my goodness. Well, we'll never know, right? I will always love John, always." While the actress agreed that their "timing was just really off" due to their overlapping relationships during Full House's original run, she told HuffPost, "I don't think it ever entered our minds that it would be something more."

Luckily, keeping things platonic seems to have worked out for the best for this pairing. As Stamos told Life & Style in 2014 (via UPI), "I would rather have her as a best friend than an ex-wife."

After John Stamos announced Full House's Netflix spinoff in 2015, the news was quickly overshadowed by a brewing feud between the actor and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. When asked if they planned to reprise their shared role of Michelle on Fuller House, the former actresses claimed they hadn't even been told about it. "I call bulls**t," Stamos wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via People).

Lori Loughlin was also vocal about the matter. However, she took on a slightly more diplomatic approach than her co-star. "It doesn't matter how much money they get paid, they don't care. I honestly don't know if they want to do it," she told Access Online, but added, "Everyone would love it [if they came back], it would be really nice."

"I think there was some confusion," Stamos later backtracked on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, explaining that he'd called Mary-Kate to smooth things over following his "knee-jerk reaction" tweet (via E! News). But that wasn't the end of it. After the Olsen twins officially decided not to return to the Tanner family household, the show infamously threw shade at them in the first episode. Yikes.

When John Stamos tied the knot with Caitlyn McHugh in February 2018, there was one truly noticeable absence on the couple's guest-list: the actor's famous on-screen wife. "We were all invited," Lori Loughlin explained to Us Weekly once fans began to speculate why she was a no-show on her co-star's big day. "Unfortunately Candace [Cameron Bure] and I already committed to go to the Super Bowl months and months and months in advance so we couldn't be there. But we certainly were all invited."

In lieu of attending the wedding, the actress sent the newlyweds flowers in celebration of their nuptials. "I was really bummed that I already had plans," she continued, adding, "Caitlin and John — they were a little last-minute in their planning and preparation and we had already committed to something else."

Luckily, the Fuller House cast wasn't entirely unrepresented at the ceremony. Dave Coulier, Jodie Sweetin, and Bob Saget were among the 50 guests who gathered to watch the lovebirds exchange vows at the Little Brown Church in Studio City, Calif.

Lori Loughlin may not have been able to join in on the festivities at John Stamos and Caitlyn McHugh's wedding, but she couldn't be more thrilled that her co-star finally found someone with whom to settle down and start a family. "I'm so happy for John," she told Us Weekly, adding that the two were "meant for each other."

"It's long overdue and his wife is a really great girl. She's very good for him," the actress said while speaking with Entertainment Tonight, before gushing over how her castmate was going to be a great dad. "I know he's always wanted a family. This has been a priority for him."

Loughlin knew that McHugh was "the one" for Stamos from the moment she met his better half, saying, "He has said in interviews in the past, he went through a little bit of a rough patch and he needed to get his act together in order to attract someone like Caitlin into his life. It's what you put out that you get back."

John Stamos and Lori Loughlin's real-life relationship may not reflect that of their on-screen romance, but their decades-long friendship exhibits total #BFFGoals. These actors are each other's biggest cheerleaders. In addition to gushing over one another during interviews, their social media game is on point. These besties are known to share endearing and funny posts with each other, like this cute Frozen lip sync clip.

But the best sign of their friendship is the genuine love they have for one another, as expressed in Loughin's description of their relationship, both on and off the screen. "I love working with John," the actress told Us Weekly. "We have a great rapport. We have great chemistry. Working with him now for so many years — its like we have a secondhand language. It just comes very naturally to us." During her HuffPost interview, she said, "He's a really good friend of mine, I love and adore him" (via People). 

These two are seriously too sweet.

For her alleged part in the $25 million college admissions cheating scheme, Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their two daughters into USC.

In a September 2019 GQ profile of John Stamos, the actor was asked about Loughlin's implication in the bribery scandal. "I gotta be careful. I want to wait until the trial happens, if it does, or whatever the result is, and then talk about it," he said. "... I'll tell you one thing that has been strange is: Honestly, I can't figure it out. It doesn't make sense. I talked to her the morning everything hit. I just can't process it still." Stamos added, "Whatever happened, I'm pretty sure that the punishment is not equal to the crime, if there was a crime."

Unlike actress Felicity Huffman, who was sentenced to 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to her role in Operation Varsity Blues, Loughlin and her husband rejected a plea deal, pleaded not guilty, and have maintained their innocence.

While John Stamos has been publicly supportive of Lori Loughlin, sources cited by Radar Online claimed that he and other Full House stars are worried that her scandal is cutting into their bank accounts. "John Stamos, Jodie Sweetin and Bob Saget fear they are going to lose millions in lost royalties," the insider told the publication's Straight Shuter podcast, "as the TV stations decide what to do with Fuller House following the college application scandal surrounding Lori."

"Who is going to want to watch her show anymore? And if the audience doesn't tune in, stations will drop it which will cost the cast millions in lost revenues," the source continued. "What folks don't understand is every time Full House airs anywhere in the world, John, Jodie, Bob, Lori and everyone else gets paid. She has potentially ruined that for everyone and it's just not fair."

While Stamos hasn't responded to these claims, he did pitch a Full House prequel idea a mere three months after Loughlin was seemingly fired from the iconic show's revival. "I think there's a play that we go backward, like what happened before?" he told E! News. "If you remember in the pilot of the show, my sister Pam dies, and that's why it's the three men raising the three girls, so I'd like to explore that — the brother/sister, maybe go back. We'll see." You may have noticed there was no mention of Loughlin's character in his pitch ...