Actress Candace Cameron Bure, best known for her roles on the family sitcom “Full House” and its spin-off series “Fuller House,” has opened up about her experience being an opposing voice on “The View.”
The 47-year-old producer and New York Times best-selling author served as a co-host on the long-running ABC daytime talk show from mid-2015 until she left the “Hot Topics” table in December 2016.
Ms. Bure filled the panel’s “conservative” seat during seasons 19 and 20, proffering a difference of opinion that challenged the mainly liberal perspectives of her fellow panelists, which included veteran moderator Whoopi Goldberg, actress Raven-Symoné, and comedian Joy Behar.
She partly attributed her sentiment to her long work commute. At the time, she was traveling back and forth between Los Angeles and New York every week to tape the live show. “I was pretty wiped out on top of trying to learn and navigate how to talk about these hot topics,” she said.
Representing the Conservative Voice
Although conversations on “The View” are now heavily laced with political commentary, Ms. Bure revealed in a 2021 episode of “The View: Behind the Table” podcast that she was assured by executives that politics would not be a focal point of the show when she was hired.
“I was literally pitched a show ... that was not what ‘The View’ is right now and was certainly not what ‘The View’ was when I was on it,” she said while speaking with former “The View” co-host Raven-Symoné, who left the show around the same time as Ms. Bure, and Sara Haines, who is currently still a panelist.
“I was pitched a completely different direction,” she reiterated. Instead, the “My Christmas Hero” star was told the show would be “lighter” and cover more evergreen subjects, such as topics about family and life.
However, Ms. Bure said “it all changed” when business magnate Donald Trump entered the race and eventually won the election for president in 2016. He swiftly became a popular subject for mainstream media pundits—and a hot topic for panelists on “The View” too.
“I was not prepared to talk politics all day every day,” Ms. Bure continued. She said the sheer amount of stress and anxiety she felt from the “enormous pressure” of having to represent her community well often left her “crying before the show.”
“There was only one type of stress that I’ve ever felt in my life, that came from that show,” she shared. “And I [have] PTSD, like, I can feel it. It was so difficult, and to manage that emotional stress was very, very hard.”
“The social media aspect can be nasty and, of course, we get in heated discussions on ‘The View,’ so when people don’t like what I have to say, they really can lash out at times,” she said. “And it’s tough.”
Standing Up for Christian Values
Despite her hesitancy to discuss politics on “The View,” Ms. Bure said she was eager and well-equipped to talk about her religious beliefs.“As a Christian, I had no fear,” she told Ms. Stuckey. “I’m like, I‘ll talk about my faith all day long, I’ll talk about faith values, I‘ll talk about God, I’ll talk about Jesus—that felt very comfortable to me.”
The actress regularly discussed her Christian values on the show, and often shared her perspective on largely divisive topics, such as abortion and sexual intercourse outside of marriage, with her fellow panelists. During a taping, Ms. Bure once even donned a sweatshirt that featured the slogan “Jesus saves, bro.”
“I’m just trying to be me. I’m trying to do the things that I love and do my job and Jesus always comes with me, and my faith always comes with me,” she added. “I don’t leave it at the doorstep at home and go to work. It’s just who I am.”
While reflecting on her time as a co-host, Ms. Bure told Ms. Vieira that, overall, she did enjoy partaking in many of the discussions—which she called “healthy conversations”—especially when there were opposing points of view.
“I think that’s what makes the world go round,” she said. “I want someone to open my eyes to something that I may not have seen before, and vice versa.”
