Candace Cameron Bure is looking back on growing up as a teenager in Hollywood and the effects it had on her self-esteem.
During a recent appearance on the podcast Pod Meets World, Bure shared how her weight was written into Full House.
Bure, now 48, began filming Full House when she was just 11 years old.
“I was always the chubby-cheeked girl, and a lot of people loved that I was,” she explained to Pod Meets World hosts Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle. “And I can look back and go, like, ‘I was just a normal, average girl.’”
But she says when she met people in real life, they’d always comment how “much thinner” she was in person.
“You’re just like, ’Is that all people see?’ Do they just see my chubby cheeks?”
Bure recalled a particular Full House episode where her character, D.J. Tanner, didn’t want to wear a bathing suit to a pool party she was going to attend with Kimmy [Andrea Barber].
“So, I did a crash diet to try to lose weight in a week so I wouldn’t feel bad about myself in a bathing suit, and then passed out at the gym.”
The actress said, “They actually talked to my mom and dad and they talked to me and said, ‘Would you feel comfortable if we wrote an episode like this?’ And I was like, ’Yeah, sure.’ But when you’re in it and doing it, it feels a little awkward.”
Bure explained how after that season wrapped, she ended up losing 20 pounds, and when she returned to begin shooting the next season, the crew thought her weight loss was “so great.”
“They were like, ‘Oh, on the opening titles, why don’t we have you on an exercise bike, just to promote that.’ And looking back, I don’t think that was bad. I really put a lot of hard work and effort into losing 20 pounds.”
Growing up in Hollywood was a lot, and Bure explained that just because you’re on television doesn’t mean you can escape the awkwardness and insecurity of being a teenager.
“Those ages were a little bit more awkward for me. I just want to always go back — I just want to hug 15-year-old Candace and go, ‘Okay, don’t listen to anyone.’ “
It’s awful to hear how writers wrote storylines about things that teen actors were insecure about. I really hope this doesn’t go on as much today, but I really doubt much has changed.
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