Actress Candace Cameron Bure, best known for playing D.J. Tanner on the family sitcom “Full House,” is no stranger to Hollywood’s largely unrealistic beauty standards. The child star grew up in front of the camera, first gracing television screens when she was just five years old. Now as an adult, the 47-year-old says she still occasionally contends with the industry’s unhealthy beauty ideals.
“Let’s just talk about the Ozempic craze right now ... I’m like, ‘Should I go on Ozempic?’” she queried, quickly noting that she wouldn’t. “But these are the things that go through my mind because the standard is so high, and I am in front of the camera all day,” she explained.
Overcoming Struggles With Food
The actress also touched upon her eating disorder, which she has been very public and open about in the past.Ms. Bure developed bulimia in her early 20s after moving to Montreal to support her husband, Valeri, who was a professional hockey player at the time. The stark transition from her time working as an actress to becoming a wife and soon-to-be mother coupled with living in a new city without any family or friends nearby affected her greatly.
Ms. Bure said she often turned to food to help quell her feelings of loneliness. “It became a very destructive relationship, and it was one that really caught me off guard,” she noted.
“I got into a cycle of binge eating and feeling such guilt and shame for that, then I would start purging,” she continued. “And without even knowing, it soon just took over to a point where you feel such a loss of control and yet the very thing you’re trying to do is control.”
Ms. Bure—who shares three children with her husband: Natasha, 25; Lev, 24; and Maksim, 22—told Ms. Stuckey that she is now in control of her eating and has been for the past 20 years. However, she said she still battles with her eating disorder mentally but has tools in place to help her get through the days when she struggles most.
Before making a “bad decision,” she said, she reminds herself how that choice will make her feel. “I was bulimic for a long time, so I remind myself of the things that feel awful and the consequences of it,” she said, adding that this often helps her snap “right back into reality.”
Turning to Faith and Fitness
Ms. Bure, who regularly shares her workout routines on social media, also credited her love of fitness for helping her “feel strong and healthy”—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally, too. “It just feels good,” she said, “So I feel better and then I can make better decisions.”However, Ms. Bure also emphasized that her relationship with God is just as—if not more—integral to her entire well-being.
“I talk to God a lot; I have an ongoing dialogue with God,” she explained. “And so my prayer life is pretty strong, my conversations with Him are very strong.
“Because really, it’s a battle of the mind—a lot of disordered eating is—and so if I pull the Holy Spirit into my mind, and I’m constantly praying and asking God to renew my mind, it helps,” she continued.
Overall, Ms. Bure said she’s grateful for the progress she has made over the years, partly attributing her headway to seeing her mother, Barbara, who’s in her 70s, and father, Robert, 80, age gracefully.
“I’m so blessed and privileged and love that they are still with us and here and have so much energy ... and they are beautiful,” she said. “So I look to them and I’m like, ‘This is what I have to look forward to.’”
