Real-Life Celebrity Breakup: John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn

John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn — she landed her television crush and he scored a supermodel with innate comedy timing — as any fan of Ugly Betty will attest — but in the end, they didn’t have what it takes to go the distance.

How Did John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn Meet?

Though Stamos probably wasn’t aware of Romijn prior to their 1994 meeting — which took place backstage at a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — she certainly knew him, and his Full House alter-ego Jesse Katsoplis.

“I totally remember seeing John Stamos walk in with his guitar in hand and that dorky haircut, the double-decker mullet. Today I keep thinking, God, what if somebody had been sitting next to me and said, ‘You’re going to marry that man someday.'”

Two months after that initial tete-a-tete, the pair traveled to Disneyland for their first official date. And it was at the “Happiest Place on Earth” that love blossomed, according to Romijn.

Full Spouse
Afterward, the courtship was underway and speeding full steam ahead. On Christmas Eve 1997, Stamos proposed marriage with the aid of a cigar band (which he later replaced with a four-carat emerald-cut Boucheron diamond in a platinum setting).

The wedding ceremony took place on September 19, 1998, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Among the 400 guests were Romijn’s fellow supermodels Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum and Full House alums Bob Saget, Candace Cameron Bure, the Olsen twins and Stamos’ on-screen wife Lori Loughlin.

Career Change
Subsequent to her marriage, Romijn made the decision to pursue an acting career — and found her biggest champion in Stamos.

“John was so helpful. John taught me, especially in the beginning, and still, he’s so, so helpful. He’s been really supportive… he was like, ‘Be prepared for everyone to hate you…’ He sort of taught me how to tap into comedy a little bit, to maybe distract people… He’s been really helpful.”

John Stamos and Rebecca Romijn (Shockingly) Call It Quits

But, while all seemed well to the outside world, trouble was brewing. Two weeks following an April 2004 interview in which Romijn described her six-year union as being, “amazing and wonderful and fun and so full of love,” as well as, “really, really, really hard,” the couple announced that they were separating.

Spokesperson Lewis Kay released a statement to the Daily News saying, “It’s very amicable. There’s no third party. There’s no real reason except they’ve decided to go in separate directions.”

It was Stamos who petitioned the court for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences” in his complaint. The litigation that followed was relatively straightforward and uncumbersome as both parties agreed to a plea of no contest. The union was officially dissolved in March of 2005.

Rumors concerning the reason for the split swirled. Some pointed to the discrepancy in age — Stamos is nine years Romijin’s senior — or in their career trajectory. Others claimed he was ready to start a family and she was not, something that Romijn strenuously denies.

“There is absolutely no truth to that. I desperately wanted kids. I was never a girl who dreamed about what her wedding day would be like, but I’ve always dreamed about decorating my baby’s nursery.”

For his part, Stamos argued that there wasn’t a simple answer as to why. “We just both woke up one day and it had run its course.”