Candace Cameron Bure On the Betsey Johnson She Stole From D.J. Tanner’s Closet, Faith & Her New Gig on ‘The View’
Candice Cameron Bure on The View. Photo: Getty Images
To a child of the 90’s, Candace Cameron Bure will always be D.J. Tanner. And now the same thing will hold true for the kids of the aughts. Cameron Bure, who played the older sister to Mary-Kate and Ashley’s Michelle Tanner, will reprise her role on Netflix’s upcoming series, Fuller House. The childhood star is also one of the newest co-hosts of the 19th season of The View. And though her appearance has been met with controversy, the outspoken Christian mother of three is thankful for the opportunity to help restore the conservative outlook that she feels has been missing on the show.
Cameron Bure is used to navigating tricky waters. Throughout her stint on Season 18 of Dancing with the Stars, the 39-year-old actress was extremely vocal about the challenges she overcame in order to stick with the show. And though it’s been three seasons since since she dazzled audiences with her foxtrot, it made such an impression that she wrote a book about it: Dancing Through Life: Steps of Courage and Conviction.
Yahoo Style: As a ‘90s sitcom star, you must have been approached by dozens of reality shows. Why Dancing with the Stars?
Candace Cameron Bure: It was actually a show that I wanted to do for a long time and really the only reality show that I was willing to do. I have been asked to do just about all of them that are out there and I’ve turned them down. But Dancing with The Stars is so fun. It’s a competition and I love dancing and I thought it would be an amazing experience. So when I got the official invitation, it was a “Yes” right away without hesitation.
Speaking of reality TV, you just signed onto The View. What are you looking forward to bringing to the show?
For a few years since Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] left the show, I don’t think that there’s been a balanced panel of different viewpoints. And I think both Paula [Faris] and I are going to bring back the conservative viewpoint. I hope that leads to great discussion. Tonally, what we’ve talked about with The View for this season, is none of us are there to catfight and have these crazy arguments but to have a healthy conversation of opposing viewpoints. And that I’m looking forward to. It’s going to be interesting. I’m very excited about it.
Candice Cameron Bure on Dancing With the Stars. Photo: Getty Images
Are you holding onto some of your dance moves that you learned on the show or are they forever buried after your DWTS appearance?
Definitely not buried. I absolutely love dancing. I don’t know if I look as pretty as I did doing those moves because Mark [Ballas] was teaching me how to do them properly. But whenever I get a chance to dance with friends, I’m doing it. In one of my Hallmark movies, Just The Way You Are, we did a little dance. I’m using those dance moves on Fuller House as well. My husband doesn’t want to dance. He has no interest in dancing. He is not that guy. He’s like, “You do your thing, but if that’s what you like, I’m out!”
Was there anything in the book that you were embarrassed or hesitant to publish?
I got really personal within the show. I actually went to a therapy session because my nerves were getting the best of me at one point and I really wanted to quit the journey because it was so difficult. That was the first time I had ever gone to therapy and I’m sitting there with Mark going, “Oh this is on TV and I really don’t want people to know all this personal stuff.” I thought there wasn’t much personal stuff that I didn’t know that a therapist was going to get out of me, but I was quite shocked. None of that was shown on the show; I was very protective of the things that I said and I had the show specifically edit the footage in a way that wouldn’t share some of those details. But in the book, I went ahead and I really shared all the details of some of the issues that I was having and that we talked about and that I had discovered. Of all three of my books, I’m probably the most vulnerable in this. I really just lay it all out there. I realize, even from the first two books, the more that I share, the more I am honest and open, the more people relate. You realize, “Hey. I’m not the only one.” People struggle through everything you personally struggle through.”
Did you feel pressure to be extra sexy on the show? You have established such a wholesome clean-cut image, but so many people on DWTS show so much skin.
Yeah. That was really one of the things that was a part of my journey on that show. I came out the very first day and said, “Hey. I’m not going to be the sexy girl out there and I’m not going to wear these really teeny tiny costumes. I don’t want to show everything.” That was applauded; it also got difficult though. Some costumes got pushed a bit and I was feeling the pressure from my fans and producers. There was a fine line with those struggles and I share that [in the book] as well.
So the fans gave you a hard time about some of your outfits?
The fans were giving me pressure to stick to my word. A large portion of my fan base is conservative and they were applauding the fact that I wasn’t going that route and I knew I wasn’t going to but then it became so scrutinized that it was like, “Well, you said that you weren’t going to be sexy; you’re showing too much shoulder or you’re showing an inch of your belly button.” So everybody’s definition of sexy or modest became a focal point for me and here I was trying to figure out where my personal guidelines and boundaries were and trying to figure out “Do I need to appease all of my audience members? Do I need to appease the producers who are going, ‘Let’s show more. Let’s make it shorter?’” It was the two extremes of being pulled at both ends.
Candice Cameron and the cast of Full House. Photo: Getty Images
How excited are you to reprise your role of D.J. Tanner on Fuller House?
It has been wonderful. I am thrilled to say that the show is going extremely well. It’s so good and I can’t wait for everyone to be able to watch it. It seems so far away. It’s coming out next year and we don’t have a date yet, but I know it’s sometime in early 2016. I’m just chomping at the bit for fans to see it. For my entire life, people have asked me about it. It’s the number one question on interviews and red carpets: “When are you guys doing a reunion show? When are we going to see the cast together again?” It’s like a weight lifted off my shoulders to be able to say, “Yes. We are doing the show. You’ll get to see it soon.”
D.J. Tanner is really the premise of this new installment. Are you excited to get to carry the story and not have Michelle and the Olsen twins steal the limelight?
It’s wonderful. I’m thrilled. The story revolves around DJ and her children and then of course Stephanie and Kimmy come in to help her. I think that’s the natural storyline. There was a lot of thought put into that. I’ve been working hard. I’ve been a lead of a lot of the movies I’ve done so that part doesn’t feel weird at all. It feels very natural, but I feel grateful for it.
You had some pretty sweet hair—and style—back then!
Listen, back in the day, it was one of the most talked about hairstyle! I hope we are just as style-worthy this time around as we were back then. I’m still a ‘90s girl when it comes to music. I love the fact that there are so many groups from the ‘90s performing again. I think all styles come back around. That ‘90s style is so stylish now. You walk into Forever XXI and it’s all the styles we were wearing in the ‘90s.
Were you into grunge? Did you wear anything that makes you cringe now?
D.J. didn’t really have a grunge style, but I remember wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a flannel shirt over it and my Doc Martins. The reality of that is I think I wasn’t really comfortable with my body at that point and it was more about hiding it. I didn’t really like that whole trend. It wasn’t quite grunge, but it was along the lines of it. I wasn’t digging it. It was like peg leg jeans. You would peg them and roll them, have some scrunchy socks underneath and the Doc Martins. I had low top Doc Martins and what we call the mom jeans right now. They hit at the waist and are baggy through the hips and butt.
Did you emulate D.J.’s style or was it the other way around?
It was both. It was always the wardrobe or the costume designer taking a cue from what I was wearing in real life and then they would buy things like that. And I would dip in D.J.’s closet all the time for my personal life. But at the same time, the costumers would say, “We love what you just wore today. We are going to go out and buy outfits that are similar to that.” That’s kind of how that worked.
Was there anything that you stole from D.J.’s closet that you were super excited about and wore all the time?
There is one and there are pictures of it somewhere—it was a Betsey Johnson shorts suit. They were dark green plaid little shorts and then a matching blazer that went with it and I adored that. I wore it on the show and then I borrowed it from her closet; I would switch the top out or maybe not wear the blazer and wear the shorts with something or wear the blazer with other jeans or something. I wore that thing out and I loved it. I still look at it and go, “It’s really is cute!”
You’re such a role model for the faith-based community. Mayim Bialik just recently opened up about how being religious is not really cool in Hollywood. Do you agree with her? Is being religious something that is looked down upon in the industry?
Yeah. I read that article and I was so happy. I love her. I love that she is as outspoken about her faith and Judaism as I am about Christianity. It’s so wonderful and I really agree with her article. I think with my faith, because there are a lot of filmmakers who do a lot of faith-based movies, I think there are places within Hollywood that it is celebrated. But in general, it’s not something that is celebrated. You can definitely get pegged for it. But for me, at the end of the day, this is who I am. This is what I believe and if it conflicts with someone’s project or what they think of me, then it’s not worth it enough for me to do that project or work with that person anyway. I mean that’s not going to change me. I’ve been told no and had the door slammed in my face enough times that it did not change me as far as who I am and as far as my faith is concerned.
So that’s actually been an issue before with people turning you down for roles on the basis of your faith?
Yeah. I have had that told to me many, many times. You just get pigeonholed, which is fine. I don’t mind it that way but yes, I’ve had the door shut in my face because of my faith. I’ve been turned away from things. I’ve gotten no’s just because of that.
YS: What did you think of Lifetime’s The Unauthorized Full House Story? Was it at all the experience that you had on the show?
CCB: I wasn’t going to watch it and my curiosity got the better of me when I was home. I didn’t see the entire thing, but from what I did see, it was quite laughable. It was pretty benign, because there was no juicy gossip for them to write about. So it was funny, but they got a lot of things wrong from what I did see.
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