In his new memoir, actor and musician John Stamos reveals that he was sexually abused by a babysitter when he was a child, People magazine reports.
Stamos, known for his roles in television series including Full House and ER and his occasional performances with the Beach Boys, reveals the abuse in If You Would Have Told Me, written with Daphne Young and slated for publication next week by Henry Holt. A critic for Kirkus called the memoir “a lesson in humility and gratitude” and “a heartfelt, sincere memoir filled with useful wisdom.”
He told the magazine that he was 10 or 11 at the time.
“It has always been there, but I packed it away as people do, right?” he said. “I think I told myself, like, ‘Ah, it’s girls, man.’ It was like you’re playing dead so they’ll stop. But it wasn’t totally aggressive. I don’t know, it was not good.”
Stamos said he considered disclosing the abuse when he was accepting an award he received for speaking out on behalf of children who have undergone abuse.
“I started to write it, and that’s when it really came out, he said. “And then I thought, ‘No, tonight is not about me. It’s about the kids. I’m going to pack it away again until the right moment.’ Otherwise, I’m a phony fuck. It’s like, ‘Come on.’”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
