With her three kids grown and flown and her work life flourishing, Candace Cameron Bure is “thinking about what is to come.”
The award-winning actress and producer, podcast host, inspirational speaker, chief creative officer at Great American Media, CEO of CandyRock Entertainment, and best-selling author is publishing her new “100 Days of Joy and Strength: A Devotional Journal” on June 24.
She also turns 50 next year.
“I’m at this season in my life and I want to prepare myself to be in the best place,” Bure told The Epoch Times in a recent interview. “As I go into the next decade of my life, I don’t want to be scared of it. I don’t want to be discouraged.”
To meet the new decade head-on, Bure, who’s been married for 29 years to two-time Olympic medalist and former NHL professional hockey player Valeri Bure, will take the time to focus on all aspects of wellness.
“I had my hour lifting session at the gym this morning. I prioritize walking,” she said. “And then of course my spiritual life is incredibly important to me. It’s all those things. I’m just going into it with a new zest and zeal and giving it extra attention in my life and hours in my day.”
Professionally, Bure—forever known to the millennial generation as D.J. Tanner from the beloved eight-season TV series “Full House” and its five-season reboot, “Fuller House”—is also kicking it up a notch, taking on a podcast and an executive role at Great American Media where she also is the star of the “Ainsley McGregor Mysteries.”
“I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over 40 years, which is crazy to me,” reflected Bure, who took a decade off while raising her three children—Natasha, 26; Lev, 25 and Maksim, 23.
“It was a big challenge” to walk away from the success she found early on, Bure said. “But I am so grateful for that time because I really matured as a young woman and I really grew into the kind of woman that I wanted to be, and to make those choices, it just made me stronger. The challenges always make you stronger.”
Whether it’s her work in earlier productions like “Full House” or the Hallmark Christmas movies and “Aurora Teagarden Mysteries” or her current “Ainsley McGregor Mysteries” and now the podcast, “at the core of it, it’s all storytelling but in different ways,” said Bure, whose brother is the successful actor and filmmaker Kirk Cameron.
Entering the podcast world—with The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast—Bure knew she wanted to create something that would stand out. “I was always hesitant to do a podcast just because there’s so many and people do them so well,” Bure said. “What’s gonna set another podcast apart?”
To make it her own, Bure chose to take a deep dive into a single theme each season engaging guests in a more meaningful exploration. This current season’s theme, she noted, is “Spiritual Warfare”; next season she will tackle “Body Image.”
“I’m a very open and honest person and what you see is what you get,” said Bure about her podcast’s approach. “I like to share the good and the bad and the difficult and the reality of life. When there’s honesty, there’s relatability, and that’s who I am. I’m just myself.”
Her overwhelmingly positive stints on TV’s “Dancing With the Stars”—in Season 18, 2014, she was partnered with pro dancer Mark Ballas and finished in third place—and in the more recent “Masked Singer” participation where she was Cherry Blossom during Season 13 and was unmasked in Episode 7 this past March, prove that audiences agree.
In her latest and most ambitious job as Great America Media’s chief creative officer, Bure is excited to help “build a network.” It was during a 10-year break she took in her 20s to stay home and raise her kids that Bure says she realized that all the “hands-on experience” she already had could inspire and inform her future in the acting business.
“My goals were to tell stories that families could watch together,” said Bure. “I’ve always felt that co-viewing and family activities have been important to do together for life. It’s a big part of what ‘Full House’ was all about. And I kind of took that and ran. Times change, culture changes, but the base of family doesn’t change in what’s important and it’s time spent together.”
This led Bure to where she is today, in a position to ask—and find answers to her own big questions of “How can I tell stories today? And how can I share wisdom today or encourage families and togetherness in my life and within my career?”
Looks like she’s figuring it all out just fine—both on and off-camera.
“Seeing the fruit of my labor now that my kids are grown and in their 20s, and they’re all adults. It’s really incredible,” Bure said.
