Candace Cameron Bure is reflecting on growing up in front of the camera – including the pressure to look a certain way onscreen.
The Full House alum, 48, opened up about how the crew of the beloved family sitcom applauded her 20-pound weight loss in between seasons when she was a teen during the Monday, August 12, episode of the “Pod Meets World” podcast. Bure, who played eldest daughter D.J. Tanner, shared her story after host Danielle Fishel asked if she ever had an episode written about her weight, like Fishel, 43, and her Boy Meets World costar Will Friedle did.
“I had lost, like, 20 pounds from the end of one season to another,” Bure began. “I came in losing 20 pounds, but they thought it was so great and 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.”
She continued, “But the season before I had that episode where it was like, Kimmy [played by Andrea Barber] and I were going to a pool party and I didn’t want to put a bathing suit on, 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. And those are things that many of us struggle with. But yeah, you know, you play it out on television and sometimes it’s like…OK.”
Bure went on to reveal that the writers had asked her and her parents ahead of time if she was comfortable doing an episode like that.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ but when you’re in it and doing it, it feels a little awkward,” she added.
Fishel, who portrayed Topanga Lawrence on Boy Meets World during its seven season run, also shared her story about having her weight written into an episode, which was titled, “She’s Having My Baby Back Ribs.” In the season 7 episode, she and Eric (Friedle, 48) go on a diet while they’re in college, which prompts Cory (her onscreen husband played by Ben Savage) to think she’s pregnant.
“I remember when they called me into the office to tell me they were going to, it wasn’t really like they asked,” Fishel recalled. “They just kind of said, ‘You know, we want you to know. Obviously you guys have gained a little bit of weight, so we’re going to write an episode about it, and we just wanted you to know. And here’s what it’s going to be. It’s going to be really funny.’”
The actress noted that Friedle had a good attitude about the episode at the time, which made her even more insecure.
“I remember that the hardest part for me was that meeting because Will very much was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m totally fine with it!’ Just immediately, which I know now he was very insecure and it was really painful and powerful for him, but I didn’t know that,” she continued. “And for me it was more like, ‘Oh, wow.’ No one had said anything to me about it. I had been aware that I had gained weight, but I was still, you know, I was a size four. And so I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these people think I’ve gained enough weight [that] we have to write an entire episode about my weight gain.’”
Bure starred on Full House during its eight season run from 1987 to 1995, later reprising her role in the Netflix spinoff series, Fuller House, which also starred OG cast members Barber, 48, and Jodie Sweetin. John Stamos, Dave Coulier, Lori Loughlin and the late Bob Saget also had recurring roles throughout the show’s five seasons from 2016 to 2020.
Fishel starred on Boy Meets World for all seven seasons from 1993 to 2000. She reprised her role in the Disney Channel spinoff, Girl Meets World, opposite of Savage, 43, for three seasons from 2014 to 2017.
