Candace Cameron Bure responds to criticism of her Christmas photo: 'I'll always protect my kids'

Candace Cameron Bure published a new children’s book, sells a clothing line and is filming two Hallmark television movies. But troll her family and the Fuller House star stops everything.

“I love connecting with people on social media, but I'm never afraid to speak up and defend myself or my family or anyone else that is treated wrongly,” Bure, 44, tells Yahoo Life in an exclusive interview.

Over this past year, Bure, who shares daughter Natasha, 22, and sons Lev, 20, and Maksim, 18, with former hockey player Val Bure, has seen her social media posts as breaking headlines: A September photo depicting Val jokingly grabbing his wife’s breast upset her religious fans and prompted a clapback from Bure (“He can touch me all day long”), for example. And her choice to follow both Democrat and Republican politicians led some to abandon her own page. (Additionally, in March 2019, Candace Bure’s apparent support of Fuller House co-star Lori Loughlin, who along with husband Mossimo Giannulli, served time for their roles in the college tuition scandal, was called “disrespectful.” While “vile comments” following her brother and former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron’s mask-optional Christmas gatherings forced the star to defend her commitment to COVID-19 protocol.)

However, recent mockery of her family Christmas card that focused on her daughter’s lack of eye contact with the camera “poked mama bear out of her slumber,” she tells Yahoo Life.

“Anytime you attack my kids, I'm never going to sit back and watch that,” says Bure. “I loved that photo…I loved that it actually showcased my kids's personalities…so it felt very authentic to me. But you know, when you start talking about my family, of course, you are going to get a rise out of me because I'll always protect my kids.”

Bure, who at age 5 launched her Hollywood career and, at 11, her signature role as DJ Tanner on the television series Full House (followed by five seasons of Netflix’s Fuller House), posits that her Christian faith, which she practices in part through daily Bible readings, including on Instagram, makes her vulnerable to verbal attacks.

“I do think that people hold me to a higher standard and I think that's OK,” she says. “I like that responsibility. As a Christian woman and a woman of faith, I want to be held to a higher standard, but obviously online, some people aren't doing it out of their best intention. It's not constructive criticism. It is just outright negativity and just plain old mean.”

Faithfulness is also the theme of her Jan. 26 children’s book Candace’s Playful Puppy (the third installment in the namesake series), which follows the young girl as she adopts a dog. “Along the way, she has a lot of responsibility,” explains Bure. “She has to take care of him, to train him and feed him and bathe them…you have to be faithful in that responsibility to be a good doggy parent.” All her books have teachable lessons, she says, “just like every Full House episode.”

Bure wrote from experience, having owned five Rottweilers, including 130-pound Boris whom she brought home in 2015 and calls “beast.”

“Having a pet is such a big responsibility and I've been the parent on the other end when the kids have not been faithful, taking care of them, but it's such a great growing experience,” she says. “[Responsibility] usually increases as they get older, or sometimes they realize maybe they're not cut out for a pet.”

Bure, who gave birth to her first child at age 22, two years after tying the knot with Val, views honesty as the only way to teach accountability. “I've always been super open about sex and our bodies because I learned so much in my 20s and 30s about it, and I wish I had had a little more explanation about things when I was younger,” she says.

She adds, “I wanted them to always be really comfortable to come to me or their dad with any question…I just would always make that a part of an open dialogue. Of course, sometimes it grosses them out and they're like, ‘Mom, we don't want to talk to you about it. We get it.’”

However, Bure’s young fans welcome her advice, which she’s happy to lend. “[It’s both] broken and warmed my heart because I've had so many young girls reach out and say, ‘I don't have someone that's talking to me about this,’ ‘I don't have a mom’ or ‘My parents won't share this,’” she says. “I talk them through whatever they are needing to know about basic sex education and their bodies. I just feel like…that's a little gift I can give back.”

Bure also makes time for herself. When she’s not working, she’s working out, these days with a retro twist. Her new obsessions are roller skating, jumping rop and hula hooping. “I just don't think that you have to get on a treadmill to exercise,” says Bure.

She’s fit in her 40s, but Bure says it's the emotional benefits that motivate. “I've struggled with [mental health] in different seasons of my life and I learned how important exercise is for [that],” she says. “It really clears your mind and helps you get perspective.”

Though her alter-ego DJ would disagree. “I think I love how DJ would handle the [coronavirus] pandemic,” Bure jokes. “She would have a schedule for every person in the house…she would be the overzealous homeschooling mom…I would need a break from her because she would just be so on top of everything.”

Video produced by Jenny Miller

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