Candace Cameron Bure Gets Candid About Her Bulimia Struggle

Candace Cameron Bure is speaking out about her past struggles with bulimia. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the 40-year-old Fuller House star revealed that she felt like she lost her identity when she stepped away from the spotlight in her early 20s after so many years as a child star. Cameron Bure revealed that she had a hard time getting help with the eating disorder even though she knew she had a problem.

“I knew I had a problem but again, it’s like being on a runaway train and you [want to] get off but you don’t know how to get off,” Candace said.

Unlike some young stars, Candace Cameron Bure said she didn’t have body image issues. Instead, she turned to food to fill a void after she married NHL star Valeri Bure and moved to Montreal when she was 20-years-old.

“I kind of lost my identity in a sense and what happened was I turned to food for comfort when my husband was traveling and when I was alone,” Candace revealed. “I had a very unhealthy relationship with food that turned into bulimia. I dealt with it for several years but it wasn’t about body image and trying to feel good — It was about trying to find comfort or fill voids within myself.”

Candace says that while her parents were very protective of her and didn’t allow her views on body image to be shaped by the entertainment industry, trouble began when she stepped away from show business to focus on her marriage to Bure. According to People, Candace told reporters at the #EatingRecoveryDay panel in New York City that her relationship with food changed when she was a young wife to the hockey player, who traveled frequently early in their marriage.

“I sat lonely so many nights not knowing what to do with myself,” Cameron Bure said. “But there was always one friend that was always there, that was so readily available anytime I wanted, and that for me was food. It became a very destructive relationship, and it was one that really caught me off guard. I got into a cycle of binge eating and feeling such guilt and shame for that, that I would start purging. And without even knowing, it soon just took over to a point where you feel such a loss of control.”

Candace initially stopped binging and purging after her father found out her secret, but unfortunately, she got caught in another cycle again several years later and had a much more difficult time stopping it.

“I got caught back in this embarrassing cycle and it was even more furious than the first time,” Cameron Bure said.

Candace Cameron Bure finally found the answers when she was at church. The actress said she felt that her pastor was speaking directly to her during one particular sermon, and after the service, she decided to seek help.

“The sermon somehow just spoke to my heart and that’s when I went directly to my pastor and said, ‘I need help,” Candace told ET. “It felt so good to admit to someone… That was the moment that I went, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.'”

Today, Candace Cameron Bure is a mom to three teen children, and she is careful to teach them about proper nutrition and fitness.

“The most important thing for me to teach my children is about health and fitness,” Bure said. “It’s about taking care of your body and eating foods that are good for you and getting the right exercise that you need… It’s just about living a healthy life for longevity and a healthy heart.”

Candace Cameron Bure previously revealed she had an eating disorder in her 2011 book, Reshaping It All. Fans of Full House may remember an episode in which Candace’s character, DJ Tanner, becomes obsessed with slimming down for a pool party and goes on a crash diet. The character later passes out after exercising herself into a frenzy.

The end of the semester has me like DJ Tanner on her crash diet pic.twitter.com/eX6aYjm6Oj

— Jaxxie Baby ????? (@jaxlivinbby) April 25, 2016

In the heartbreaking episode, Candace Cameron Bure’s character tells her dad she doesn’t like the way she looks and says she wants to look like the models in a fashion magazine.

Take a look at the video below to see Candace Cameron Bure talking about how she overcame bulimia.

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]