Candace Cameron Bure was just 12 years old when she was faced with the intense pressures of Hollywood.
Bure, now 49, candidly shared how she was placed on a diet at a young age while starring on “Full House.”
The actress said the decision was made out of fear.
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“My parents were really afraid,” she explained on “The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast.”
She recalled how the struggles of Tracey Gold, who co-starred with her brother Kirk Cameron in “Growing Pains,” changed her parents’ approach to her health – Gold had battled an eating disorder and stepped away from the show to receive treatment at the time.
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“I had cheeks and I had thicker arms and I was, like, a normal 12-year-old, you know?” she said. “I really was a normal 12-year-old, but I had a little bit more fat on me than other kids on TV. They were just fearful that I would develop an eating disorder, just because of all of the pressures.”
Bure continued to say that the focus at home quickly turned to food – although her parents framed it as a lesson in developing a healthy lifestyle.
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“Let’s make sure we make good choices with food,” she remembered. “Everyone in my house was always on a diet. My mom was always on a diet. My sisters were always on a diet. I was always put on a diet. But it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, you have to lose weight.’”
Bure’s parents told her at a young age, “We want to teach you how to be healthy and exercise.”
While her parents may have taken steps to help Bure maintain a healthier lifestyle at a young age, the child star admitted the mindset may have backfired.
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“That completely shaped my viewpoint that I had about myself and the feelings about my body,” she said. “I’m on TV… and I don’t want to be too fat compared to other actors. My parents never wanted a producer to come up to me and say, like, ‘We need your child to lose weight,’ so let’s do everything preventative.”
Bure continued to open up about her insecurities at a young age.
“That very thing just shaped the way I looked at my body, which was like, ‘Oh, it’s not good enough the way it is right now. That kind of started young,” she said, “and continued through my teenage years.”
Bure rose to fame at the age of 11 when she landed the role of Donna Jo “D.J.” Tanner on the family television series.
She starred alongside the late Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Jodie Sweetin, Lori Loughlin, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and more in “Full House.”
The popular television sitcom aired from 1987 until 1995.
