Former Hallmark star and “Full House” alum Candace Cameron Bure has gleaned many positive things she’s gained from being an actor since she was a child, but one of the hardest has been struggling with disordered eating since she was very young.
The actress, 49, opened up on the July 22, 2025, episode of “The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast” told guest co-host Lisa Whittle that her struggles with bulimia are ongoing, admitting, “I’m a bulimic. And I still say I’m a bulimic.”
Candace Cameron Bure Says She’s Able to Refrain From Bulimic Behaviors
During the podcast, Whittle shared her experiences with anorexia and bulimia, which inspired Bure to share her own.
“I, too, developed an eating disorder, when I was 18,” Bure said, adding, “It was binging and purging. I’m a bulimic. And I still say I’m a bulimic.”
Bure said she no longer engages in bulimic behavior, but said “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.'”
Bulimia nervosa is a “potentially life-threatening disorder,” according to the Mayo Clinic, that causes people to feel “like they’ve lost control over their eating.” The result is that they “eat large amounts of food in one sitting, in secret, and the guilt and shame that comes afterward prompts them to “get rid of the food and extra calories in an unhealthy way, such as vomiting or misusing laxatives,” also known as purging.
Bure said that as she was growing up in the entertainment industry, her parents “fearful that I would develop an eating disorder, just because of all of the pressures.”
The former “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” star said her parents tried to ensure she could “make good choices with food,” Bure said, but the strategy wound up backfiring for her.
“Everyone in my house was always on a diet,” Bure said. “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.'”
Rather, she said her parents said, they wanted to teach their kids “how to be healthy and exercise.”
“But that completely shaped my viewpoint that I had about myself and the feelings about my body,” Bure revealed. “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.”
Candace Cameron Bure Says She Wants Other Facing Similar Struggles to Know They’re ‘Not Alone’
GettyThough her parents were well-meaning, Bure told Whittle on her podcast that their continual focus on dieting and exercise as a way to help her stay healthy “just shaped the way I looked at my body, which was like, ‘Oh, it’s not good enough the way it is right now.'”
Bure did not reveal whether she received 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.”
Sharing the podcast episode on social media, Bure wrote, “This is my body story… I’m bulimic. While I no longer act on it, the mental battle still lingers. Healing is a process and I’m still in it. If you are too, I’m with you. You’re not alone.”
If you are struggling with disordered eating, the National Eating Disorders Association offers 24/7 crisis support via text (send HOME to 741-741) and online.
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Candace Cameron Bure Opens Up About Ongoing Struggles With Bulimia