Community offered the definitive answer to the question to the question, “Who was the titular boss on Who’s the Boss?” It’s Angela. But for one night in the 1980s, it was Tony Danza.
In his memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, actor John Stamos wrote about finding his then-girlfriend, model and actress Teri Copley, in bed with Danza. They were dating for about a year (“I’m dumbstruck and goofy in love”) when Stamos noticed she was growing distant. “We’ve gone from talking on the phone every few hours to silence,” the Full House star wrote in excerpts provided by Entertainment Weekly. Things changed forever when Stamos drove to Copley’s home.
“A black 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster, vintage convertible. Strange. I shuffle to the car with my stomach sinking and take a quick look inside,” Stamos wrote. “There’s a hairbrush, keys, boxing gloves, and a half-unrolled poster of my girlfriend, naked, barely covered by a white sheet. Half of her butt is showing. I’ve never seen this poster before.” What happened next was what Stamos called his “worst nightmare.”
“The blinds are closed, but the door is slightly open. I take a peek inside and see four feet protruding from the shabby-chic, floral-print duvet that once kept me warm. My Tiny Dancer is in bed with Mr. Porsche Speedster. They are sleeping. I can’t tell who he is, but I recognize Teri’s ass barely covered by the sheets. It looks like her new poster.”
Stamos, who couldn’t tell who the guy in bed was, went back to the car and grabbed the poster. “I stare at the two-dimensional, half-dressed woman that I thought I knew. She’s signed the poster, with little hearts, ‘My Dear Tony, I’ll love you forever. XO, Teri.’ Tony? Who the hell is Tony?” he recalled. Then it clicked: “Hold me closer, Tony Danza.”
It’s no Alanis Morissette and Dave Coulier, Stamos’ Full House co-star, but it’s close.
Stamos holds no ill will against Danza, however: “If you would have told me the day I walked into that room and caught my true love in bed with another guy that his show Who’s the Boss? would launch Full House into a bona fide hit, making me a household name… Well, what can I say? Thanks, Tony Danza.”
If You Would Have Told Me comes out on October 24th.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)