John Stamos Says He Was Sexually Abused

When a celebrity writes a memoir, it usually includes secrets previously never shared with the public. Now, actor John Stamos has a new memoir called “If You Would Have Told Me,” and yes, his book includes quite a few bombshells.

Before we get to those bombshells, here’s what Stamos hopes we all take from his book, his life experience, and the lessons he learned along the way. He hopes we can use some of what he has learned to have a positive impact on our lives. For example, he told PEOPLE:

“I just hope people can take something…and use it in their life.” Then he gave an example.” It could be the stuff that I learned from Bob [Saget], which was, ‘Tomorrow’s not promised. Live every moment to the fullest and tell everybody that you care about them.’ Or the wisdom that I got from my parents, my dad, treating everybody the same. My mom, always looking for the best part of someone and that’s what defines them. But I hope they can relate to me.”

Okay, so now that we know there are life lessons Stamos wants us to take away from his book and incorporate in our lives, let’s get to what we really want to know – the secrets.

One of the biggest bombshells in Stamos’ book is that he was sexually abused. He claims it happened in 1986 when he was at a cast dinner for the film “Never Too Young to Die.” He explained that moments after meeting his co-star, Vanity “she’s giving me a hand job under the table.” He added, “I’m making small talk as she rearranges a napkin in my lap and the next thing I know she’s all in.”

Stamos doesn’t have any hard feelings towards Vanity. Instead, he explained, “Looking back, I feel for her. Her dad abused her until he died. Then she was modeling at seventeen and molded into the sexpot image by influential men who wanted to make her their ‘Nasty Girl.’ She ping-ponged from freebasing cocaine to tripping on the stronger drug of evangelical religion. I imagine a lot was done to her and somehow doing a little something to a younger, inexperienced guy and waving machine guns around [between takes] gave her a feeling of reclaiming power.”

That wasn’t the only time Stamos was sexually abused. The first time was actually when he was just a child. While the incident with Vanity didn’t traumatize him, the incident when he was younger did.

Stamos shared, “When I was little, I had a babysitter who was around eighteen or nineteen. A lot of the time she’s kind of fun. We play, watch sitcoms, and laze around on the couch. But sometimes she gets weird, and it makes me feel weird, too. Uncomfortable. She does strange stuff I don’t understand.” He would pretend to be asleep when she got “weird.” He continued, “Then it’s over, and when I ‘wake up’ it’s like nothing happened.”

Stamos didn’t know it at the time, but now, he knows more about what he was experiencing and why he reacted the way he did. He explained, “I learn it’s a phenomenon called the freeze response. Sounds like what it is. When a child is vulnerable or can’t escape, there can be a sort of playing possum effect. Don’t move, don’t speak, and just wait until things get normal again. It’s something that I had packed away.”

Watch the video below to learn more of the shocking bombshells Stamos shares in his new memoir.