John Stamos shares many painful revelations about his past in his upcoming memoir, and one involves losing his dream girl to a sitcom heartthrob.
In If You Would Have Told Me, the 60-year-old delves into what he says was the demise of his relationship with model and actress Teri Copley. Stamos alleges that, despite a whirlwind romance and a dazzling courtship, things came to an abrupt end when he allegedly caught Copley cheating on him with Who’s the Boss? star Tony Danza.
According to an excerpt of the book shared by USA Today, Stamos headed to Copley’s house to check on her after claiming she gave him “the cold shoulder” when he returned from touring with car show appearances and performing with the cover band Papa Doo Run Run.
Upon arriving at Copley’s home, Stamos saw a car parked in the driveway, where he noticed “a hairbrush, keys, boxing gloves and a half-unrolled poster of my girlfriend, naked, barely covered by a white sheet.”
Not recognizing the car or the poster, Stamos writes that he tried Copley’s front and side doors, and when those failed to let him in, he headed to the actress’ guesthouse. There he found “four feet protruding from the shabby-chic, floral print duvet that once kept me warm.”
“My heart is beating out of my chest,” Stamos writes. “My mind is racing, and the room is spinning. I feel like throwing up all over her white shag carpet. It’s my worst nightmare.”
Stamos says that the clue to Copley’s mystery lover came when he grabbed the poster in the car for a closer look before making his exit. The poster was allegedly signed by Copley with the message, “My Dear Tony, I’ll love you forever.” It was while he was driving home and listening to the Elton John song “Tiny Dancer” that Stamos says he realized the identity of “Mr. Porsche Speedster.”
“I mouth the words to his most famous lyrics and realize the name of my rival, ‘Hold me closer, Tony Danza,'” Stamos claims.
In an interview with People, Stamos describes the alleged incident as “physically painful” and “worse than anything.”
“I can’t explain it, but I would’ve rather been punched in the nose again or something because the pain is so overwhelming,” he told the outlet. “Looking back, it’s like, probably, she wasn’t the right girl for me. So seeing him, realizing it was him and stuff, it was hard. I mean, it was awful.”
But Copley, now 62, told People that her relationship with Stamos was already over at the time of the incident. “I wondered, ‘What was John doing there?’ because we had broken up,” she said. “He just looked at me and shook his head, and walked away.”
Stamos went on to quip that things “evened out” for the better since Danza played a pivotal role in helping Full House become a hit series.
The family sitcom, which was met with underwhelming ratings in its first season, gained a second wind when it was paired with Danza’s hit sitcom, Who’s the Boss?, on the ABC lineup, helping Full House find a bigger audience.
“Back then you go, ‘Life isn’t fair.’ And then, ‘Oh, wait a minute. It got evened out,’ ” Stamos told People. “I honestly believe if we didn’t follow his show in the summer, that would’ve been one and done for that show, Full House.”
If You Would Have Told Me is out Oct. 24.
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