Donna Jo Margaret Tanner (D.J. Tanner-Fuller on Fuller House) is a character on the television sitcom Full House. She is portrayed by Candace Cameron. She is the oldest daughter of Pam and Danny Tanner. And, in Fuller House, she is the mother of Jackson, Max, and Tommy Fuller.

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Early years

Born Donna Jo Tanner on February 9, 1977, she is the older sister of Stephanie and Michelle Tanner. D.J. is sometimes called "Deej" by her family and close friends (which is a one-syllable shortening of the sound of her initials).

Personality

D.J. is shown handling many tough situations with general ease. She is like any other tween and teenager. Although she gets upset at times over her father eavesdropping over the boys that she likes or embarrassing her, she is always quick to apologize when she snaps at him. D.J. sometimes finds her dad’s limits controlling. This often leads to arguments, which lead her to walk away to her room. Regardless of the circumstances, in the end, she understands why and learns her lesson (usually the hard way). This structure of one of the "Tanner sisters" learning a life-important lesson is shown in many episodes, accompanied by inspirational music that usually is played either at or towards the end of an episode.

In episode six ("Daddy's Home"), when she will not talk about how much she wishes Danny was not working so much because Stephanie would cry about Danny missing her recital, D.J. shows great sensitivity toward her younger siblings. In "A Pox in Our House", she stays home from her first non-mother/daughter Honeybee slumber party to take care of Michelle when Jesse, Joey, and Stephanie all have chickenpox, so that Michelle would not get it – even though Danny is perfectly willing to miss a chance to sit court-side at a Golden State Warriors basketball game. Stephanie gets on her nerves quite often with her snooping, and this trend continues throughout the series. In "Slumber Party", after Stephanie's awful time at her Honeybee mother/daughter sleepover, she tearfully explains that when D.J. was 8 she got to attend one with Pam, their mother; D.J. then explains that does not mean she doesn't miss her as much as Stephanie does. Even after Stephanie confesses that the girls who do have mothers were happy and she wasn't and even wonders why she couldn't be happy like them (as she was the only girl in the troop to not have a mother), D.J. also explains that when she attended the sleepover with Pam, she looked at those girls who did have a mother at that time, and felt the same way Stephanie does for those who didn't. When Stephanie asks how she can make the feeling go away, D.J. explains that it's hard, but something that helps her cope with Pam's death is that she realizes that Stephanie is special in the same way she is, in that they have something the other girls don't have; namely Danny, Joey, and Jesse, and more importantly, each other. After their talk, they hug, and she decides to accompany Stephanie on the return trip to the sleepover.

Her ways of caring for others go beyond just safety. For example, in "My Left and Right Foot", when she and Stephanie discover Michelle soaking her shrink-wrapped feet in a bucket of ice water in an effort to shrink her feet, D.J. asks Michelle if she's "making a bunion Slurpee", and asks her to get out. Michelle insists she's not done soaking her feet, and D.J. says she is done, and, in total regards for their sister's safety and health, D.J. and Stephanie immediately get Michelle out of her frigid foot bath, keep an extremely tight grip on her to stop her from getting back into the tub, and insist if she continues, she'll freeze her feet off to the point where bunions will grow and cause possibly permanent damage.

For her sisters, she is usually easy-going, but in the first four seasons, when she has to share a room with Stephanie. She is authoritative, reminding her about the two rules set in the series premiere: never touch her belongings, and never set foot on her side of the room. More often than not, Stephanie is seen breaking both rules at once, although she appears to break "rule #1" more often than "rule #2" (though usually, to break "rule #1", she would have to break "rule #2", as D.J. always keeps her stuff on her side of the room at all times.) After D.J. gets her own room (in season 5), she implements a new "rule #2", which is to always knock before entering.

Even after the room switch, her role model behavior doesn't stop. In "Stephanie's Wild Ride", after Stephanie's first joyride and her attempt to go on a second, she's able to stop Stephanie when she warns to tell Danny on her. She then has a chat about it later despite Stephanie not wanting to talk about it.

In the early years, she always taught Stephanie not to always mope around when things do not go her way. An example was "The Seven-Month Itch (Part 1)", where Stephanie was upset about the fog canceling their Disneyland trip; she immediately brings up the time when she wanted the Oat Boats commercial gig (in "Sisterly Love"), and says that she did not mope (although the events shown suggest otherwise), though all Stephanie remembers was her being chased by D.J. for the cereal box. In "The First Day of School", when Stephanie was worried she would not make any friends on the first day of kindergarten, D.J. told her that when she started kindergarten, she did not make any friends on her first day. When Stephanie mentions Kimmy, D.J. says that she and Kimmy were friends/classmates from kindergarten through 4th grade, but did not talk to each other for six months. She ends her heart-to-heart by telling Stephanie that she already has made one friend on the first day, and that's her. Another example is "Honey, I Broke the House" (season 3); as Stephanie waits on her pending punishment for driving Joey's car into the kitchen, D.J. teaches her that she must take responsibility for her actions and suffer the consequences that go with them.

Interests

Her interests include music (such as George Michael [in season 2], Milli Vanilli [season 3], and Bananarama and The Bangles [season 4]), movies, and hanging out with her friends. In early episodes, she was shown practicing karate and is mentioned that she is a green belt (purple in "Joey Gets Tough" and "Jingle Hell"). In a few episodes from season two, she was shown to love horseback riding, dreaming of having her own horse and practicing karate.

She tries out for the school cheerleading squad (in a PSA)[1] but does not make it. When she comes home disappointed about this, she remarks, "I stink." Joey and Jesse cheer her up by telling her that it just is not for her, and that there are other things that she is good at – such as being a straight-A student, member of the soccer team, and purple belt in karate (at the time of the PSA, both airing and taping), and that she should be proud of all those accomplishments.

In the episode "Star Search" (3.6), as she and Stephanie surprise Michelle with a tiara and tutu (in the opening teaser), it is revealed that she did ballet dancing when she was younger. D.J. has a Pillow Person that she is attached to; unlike Mr. Bear, D.J.'s Pillow Person is still seen until the series ends. D.J. has a charm bracelet that Pam gave her when she and Danny brought Michelle home from the hospital.

Like her sisters after her, she was a member of a Honeybee troop, as addressed in the season one episodes "Sea Cruise" and "Danny's Very First Date". In the former, she retires from the organization and passes the "Queen Bee" crown – or rather, antenna – onto Stephanie. In the latter, the Honeybee legend, "Queen Bee", and alum was announced that she had sold a record 725 honey jars (a record which still holds to this day, as alluded to by honorary "Queen Bee" Joey). She told Stephanie's troop at their meeting at the Tanner house that selling raffle tickets for a new color TV is easy, but selling honey jars for any prize, including a brand new bike that immediately excites Stephanie, requires the girls to work a lot harder.

Education

D.J. is an honor student (although she received an F and a C in science once, which never happened again). Her schools growing up are Frasier Street Elementary School, Van Atta Junior High School, and Bayview High School. Despite getting good grades, she was not admitted to her first college choice, Stanford University. She was, however, accepted into U.C. Berkeley.

Relationships

Kimmy Gibbler

D.J.'s best friend is Kimmy Gibbler. In the first episode of the show, D.J. is seen talking on the phone with Kimmy. The two have occasional fights in the show, but rarely anything major. In the episode "Michelle Rides Again (Part 2)", Kimmy arranges for D.J. and Steve to go to the prom together. From season seven to the end of the series, both work as waitresses at The Smash Club.

Kathy Santoni

D.J. is also friends with Kathy Santoni (and sometimes competitive with her). In one episode, Kathy has the flu and is unable to fulfill the role of Juliet in the school play Romeo and Juliet, so D.J. takes the role of Juliet. In "A Little Romance" (2.11), D.J. dates a boy named Michael Montfort, who breaks up with her because he views Kathy to be prettier than her, which makes her heartbroken. In one of ABC's "One to One" PSAs (see Interests), it is revealed that Kathy makes the junior high cheerleading squad but D.J. does not (towards the end of season 2).

Michael Montfort

During the series, D.J. has also had several boyfriends. Her first boyfriend, Michael Montfort (played by Jonathan Brandis), appears in the season two episode "A Little Romance", while they are in 6th grade. Their "relationship" lasts only two days. He dumps her for Kathy Santoni because he said that D.J. is smart and funny, but Kathy is pretty.

Kevin Gwynn

In the season three episode "13 Candles", D.J. has her first kiss with Kevin Gwynn after her birthday party. Initially, Kimmy wanted to "force" the kiss to happen by playing "spin the bottle". Just when D.J. and Kevin are about to kiss, Danny, Jesse, and Joey storm in interrupting the moment. However, later at night, after the party ends, Kevin returns to bring D.J. her gift and they kiss alone in the backyard.

In "Just Say No Way", Kevin ends up getting D.J. in trouble as she tries to snatch a beer can out of his hand in an attempt to stop him and two other boys from drinking at the Backwards Dance; however, he and the other boys get suspended for their involvement, and he even comes clean with Jesse and Danny about it as well.

Nelson

In season eight, she has a wealthy boyfriend, Nelson. In the episode "D.J.'s Choice", Nelson and another suitor (Viper) fight for her affection until D.J. stops them by saying she will date neither of them.

Steve Hale

Her steadiest boyfriend is Steve Hale (played by Scott Weinger). Although he appears in Season Five (as Steve Peters), he officially joins the cast during Season Six. Steve is two years older than D.J. During season seven ("Love on the Rocks"), he and D.J. break up because of having grown apart. However, he returns in the series finale to take D.J. to her prom. The two of them kiss.

In ''Fuller House'' D.J. and Steve eventually resume dating. In the final season, he proposes to her.

Viper

In season eight, D.J. dates Viper, a member from her uncle's band, Hot Daddy and the Monkey Puppets. Stephanie and Michelle originally thought that she was dating Mongo, another member from the band. Danny and Jesse both dislike the idea of D.J. dating Viper; Jesse kicks Viper out of the band for a brief time after hearing the news. Viper and D.J. eventually break up in the episode "D.J.'s Choice", where Nelson, one of D.J.'s previous boyfriends, and Viper force her to choose between the two of them. D.J. stops them by saying she will date neither of them.

“ Oh, Mylanta! ”

Family

Fuller House:

Recurring phrases

"Whoa, baby!"

"Oh, Mylanta!" (Mylanta is an over-the-counter antacid medicine, and Candace said that she didn't want to say, "Oh, my God", so she got the idea to use this phrase.) [2]

Trivia

Private phone number: 555-8722 ("Misadventures in Babysitting" [3.14])

Favorite food: Chicken Parmesan ("Shape Up" [4.8])

Favorite color: purple

In season three, at the age of 13, she considers her Pillow Person to be a "sophisticated companion", not a stuffed "toy" ("Three Men and Another Baby" [3.22]) The particular model she had/has (see also Fuller House trivia) is called a Window Rattler Candace Cameron kept that Pillow Person after Full House ended – until her dog chewed it up

The picture she places on the mantle in the season four opening (see Gallery) is actually that of Candace before the series began

D.J. takes karate and horseback riding lessons; and Candace studied karate and rides horses

Danny reveals that when D.J. was younger, she had an imaginary friend named Norton the Duck ("Rock the Cradle" [4.26])

On the NHK Japan broadcasts, her name is the only one without Japanese translation

Her hair has gone through some changes throughout the series: in seasons 1 through 7, her hair is long but in season 8 it is much shorter

D.J.:

was briefly married to Sylvio in the season four episode "Greek Week" (4.1)

is friends with the cousin of Steve Urkel from Family Matters ("Stephanie Gets Framed" [4.16])

("Stephanie Gets Framed" [4.16]) is the only main character (who has been a main character since season 1) who was not in every episode (an example of this is the episode "Subterranean Graduation Blues" [6.20])

is the only Tanner sister to not have a book series based on her (she does become part of the focus in the Sisters book No Rules' Weekend)

Post-Full House

Sometime after the Full House finale, D.J. went on to attend college. She eventually became a vet and married firefighter Tommy Fuller, Sr. The couple had three boys: Jackson Fuller, Max Fuller, and Tommy Fuller, Jr. In 2015, Tommy Sr. was tragically killed in the line of duty (echoing the plot setup for Full House, when Danny's wife Pam is killed by a drunk driver), which left D.J. a widow with three boys to raise on her own.

Prior to Tommy Sr.'s death, D.J. began working as a vet at Fred Harmon's animal clinic, Harmon Pet Care in 2009.

Fuller House

In Fuller House, D.J. steps into a role similar to that which her father played in Full House. Having also lost her spouse in tragic fashion, and likewise been left to raise their three children as a single parent, D.J. becomes head of household in a patchwork family consisting of herself, her kids, a sibling (in-law in her father's case) and her best friend. Aside from genders being the reverse, the only other difference is that in this case, the best friend (Kimmy) has a child of her own (Ramona).

Trivia

In the episode "The Legend of El Explosivo" (1.6), D.J. is given the honorary luchador wrestling name "Mamasita Del Amor" – which translates roughly to "Mommy Love"

Steve got her a replacement Pillow Person (after the original was lost at summer camp) in "New Kids in the House" (2.10) for her 39th birthday

In the Full House episode, "Shape Up" (4.8), Joey revealed that D.J.’s favorite food is chicken parmesan, while in Fuller House , Steve says that her favorite is meatloaf

episode, "Shape Up" (4.8), Joey revealed that D.J.’s favorite food is chicken parmesan, while in , Steve says that her favorite is meatloaf Goof (continuity): In season two, she stated that her birthday is in December between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but as the Full House episode "13 Candles" (3.17) states, her birthday is February 9

Gallery

Full House

Fuller House