John Stamos says he was sexually abused by his babysitter as a child and suppressed it for years: 'I packed it away'

• In his new memoir, John Stamos alleges he was sexually abused as a child.
• The "Full House" actor told People that it took until he was writing his memoir for him to realize he was abused.

John Stamos opens up about a difficult experience from his childhood in his new memoir, but the star told People that he only realized the gravity of the situation when he began writing the book.

According to Stamos, he was sexually abused by a babysitter when he was younger. Stamos explained that he brushed off her actions until he started working on his memoir, "If You Would Have Told Me," which will be released Tuesday.

"I felt like, I remembered it slightly. It has always been there, but I packed it away as people do, right?" the "Full House" star told People. Stamos didn't tell anyone about the abuse, which he says occurred when he was 10 or 11.

"I think I told myself, like, 'Ah, it's girls, man,'" Stamos continued. "It was like you're playing dead so they'll stop. But it wasn't totally aggressive. I don't know, it was not good."

Representatives for Stamos didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stamos has worked as a celebrity ambassador for a child abuse prevention organization, but said he first realized he experienced trauma himself when he was writing a speech for an award he received as a result of his advocacy.

The actor was adamant that he didn't want his traumatic experience to be the focus of his book or his advocacy work.

"I didn't want the headlines to be that, and I didn't want the book to be over that. It was a page or something, but I felt I had to talk about it. It was weird," he told People. "I shouldn't have had to deal with those feelings."