Candace Cameron Bure says she still considers herself to be a bulimic, sharing that “the thoughts never leave me.”
The Full House alum, 49, opened up about her ongoing struggle with her body image and disordered eating to her guest, author Lisa Whittle, on the July 22 episode of The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast. Bure had previously talked about developing bulimia when she was a young adult but when Whittle shared her own experiences with anorexia and bulimia, Bure said her struggle actually began much younger.
Michael Tullberg/Getty
Candace Cameron Bure in Los Angeles in February 2025.
“I, too, developed an eating disorder, when I was 18,” Bure shared, explaining “It was binging and purging. I’m a bulimic. And I still say I’m a bulimic.”
While she shared that she doesn’t engage in bulimic behavior, she still considers herself to have an eating disorder “because the thoughts — whether I’m doing that or not — they never leave me. So I still need the tools to just say, ‘No, Candace, we’re not doing that.’ “
Bure said that her parents “did the best job in protecting me,” but after Tracey Gold, who starred on Growing Pains with her brother Kirk Cameron, struggled with disordered eating and left the sitcom to get treatment, “My parents were really afraid” for me.
“I had cheeks and I had thicker arms and I was, like, a normal 12-year-old, you know? I really was a normal 12-year-old, but I had a little bit more fat on me than other kids on TV,” she explained. “They were just fearful that I would develop an eating disorder, just because of all of the pressures.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
She said her family began to focus on being healthy, saying things like, “Let’s make sure we make good choices with food. But. Bure shared, “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.’ “
She explained her parents framed it as “preventative,” explaining, ” ‘We want to teach you how to be healthy and exercise.’ “
“But that completely shaped my viewpoint that I had about myself and the feelings about my body. 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.”
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Candace Cameron Bure in 1994
But that approach, she said, backfired: “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 that kind of started young,” she said, and continued “through my teenage years.”
She shared that her husband Valeri Bure has “been this incredible support” but said “I feel like a broken record. I’m 49 years old and I’m like, why do I think about this so much? Why does it even matter so much? It’s so ridiculous. And yet I’m still thinking about it.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, The Alliance for Eating Disorders provides a fully-staffed helpline at 1-866-662-1235, as well as free, therapist-led support groups.
Read the original article on People
