Stamos: "The Thing That Was Most Upsetting Was Having Friends Call Going, ‘Are You Okay?’”

He appeared on an Australian television show incoherent and rambling, setting off rumors that he’s battling addiction – but now John Stamos is coming only to “Extra” to set the record straight for the first time since the incident!

“I’ve had 25 years of good behavior you know," John said. "One 10 minute interview of me babbling; it's ridiculous how much attention it's gotten."

John gave “Extra” an exclusive interview poolside at the Miami launch of a new swimwear line, where he explained the whole thing started with a whirlwind globe-trotting trip.

“I went to Greece, went to Japan, went to Cairo, then I ended up in Australia, and I didn’t know where I was or what country I was in,” John explained. “I took an Ambien…fell asleep, and they woke me up and threw me in front of this camera.”

Before he knew it, the wild interview sparked a thousand headlines, and the controversy is making John fighting mad.

“I have my mother calling me, ‘Are you on drugs?’ My sister and everybody; everybody’s flipping out,” John said. “I’m really upset about it.”

Stamos maintains that the whole thing could have been avoided.

“The guy doing the interview should have had some decency and said, ‘Look, this guy’s tired, there’s something wrong here,’” he said. “I was just a babbling idiot, and it was embarrassing, and I feel sorry that it happened.”

Now John is emphatically denying that he’s battling any sort of addiction.

“You look at the work I did on ‘E.R.’ this season, which was a very difficult but rewarding year,” he explained. “There’s no way I could have done that with any sort of substance abuse.”

The TV heartthrob is now trying to make the best of it.

“I’m at the point where I’m making jokes about it, having fun with it,” he said. “I think they kind of wait for somebody to fall. I’ve been a good boy for a long time...it’s been hard to find any dirt on me.”

The only regret, he said, is the effect it had on family and friends.

“The thing that was most upsetting was just having friends and people call going ‘are you okay?’” he says, adding, “If I could take it back I would, because you know, I’m not proud of it.”