Though Candace Cameron Bure has always been candid and vulnerable with her fans, some matters simply aren't worth the turmoil of social media backlash, she declared. On Saturday, the 49-year-old "Full House" alum shared why she decided to remove a photo of herself in a swimsuit after a fan inquired about its deletion from her Instagram. "Yes, I was at the beach. I was wearing a one-piece, not a bikini. I was savoring the last days of summer," Bure wrote on her Instagram Stories. "I was having a blast. It wasn't about my swimsuit or my body. But the comments section became inundated with discussions about my physique. It just wasn't worth it. So, I took it down."
During an episode of "The Candace Cameron Bure Podcast" in April, Bure opened up about her personal struggle with body image and shared how her faith has provided her with "a whole new perspective" on self-perception. "I've been tough on my body," an emotional Bure told podcast guests Allie Schnacky and her daughter, Natasha Bure. "I've spoken to it so harshly, so cruelly."
Recounting a dream she once had, Bure revealed that a particular Bible verse—Numbers 22—allowed her to see her body in a new light: "And then God allowed my body to speak back, and my body said to me, 'Have I not been the vessel that's carried you through all the days of your life? Am I not your legs that enable you to walk? Am I not your arms that allow you to pick up and feed yourself?... Why do you hurt me so badly, and why do you talk to me so cruelly, and why do you treat me this way? I can lift you up... you have to tell me what to do. I'm following your lead.'"
"And it was like this amazing revelation in my life," she continued. "And from the weirdest story in the Bible, God spoke to me about how cruel I've been to my body. I never saw it that way—it's this beautiful, amazing gift that God gave me." Bure admitted she now has "a whole different perspective on how I think about my body."
"I was so cruel to myself... and looking back, it breaks my heart. Learning to speak kindly to my body has been a journey, and I know I'm not alone in this. To those who can relate—I hope you can feel me giving you the biggest virtual hug right now. And I hope you'll join me in showing ourselves the grace and love we truly deserve," she said.
This isn't the first time Bure has opened up about her struggles. In 2016, the mother of three detailed the ups and downs of how she developed an eating disorder years ago. "I had a great body image growing up," Bure said at a panel for #EatingRecoveryDay in New York City, according to People. "My parents were wonderful and protective, not allowing the entertainment industry to mold me into what they believed was the standard of body image perfection."
"The transition from working since I was 5 years old to becoming a wife and soon-to-be mom, and living in a city without family and friends around me, I kind of lost sight of who I was," she said.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital in July, Bure candidly discussed the "scary" way certain trends are reshaping people's perspectives on body image in Hollywood and explained how her faith has aided her in her journey toward finding and embracing body positivity. "It can be scary, although I feel like this younger generation already has so much more body positivity that I hope they understand it's a trend," Bure said. "I think of my daughter, and she just doesn't have the same viewpoint on body image that I did growing up, especially as a child of the '80s and '90s. It's like mine is all messed up. I'm middle-aged, and I still have all these thoughts about the perfect body and this and that, and it's troubling."
"Yet my daughter and her friends and all of that have way less, they don't think about bodies like that," she continued. "So I hope they do understand it's a trend. But yeah, it does freak me out. It makes me sad to see everyone suddenly becoming skinny because I think it's very triggering for a lot of people our age who grew up in the '80s and '90s. It was the 'Kate Moss era,' and you're like, 'Oh, this is what we have to be attractive.'"
"But we know that's not true," she added. "And we also know, when we apply it back to biblical principles, that God does not love us more or less based on our weight, body size, or shape. He doesn't love us or value us more or less depending on how we look. He's a God of the heart who judges the heart, and it's all about who we are on the inside. And that is where I will continually return. No matter how the culture changes in terms of diet and what fad and what body type is in, I know that God loves me for who I am and my heart and doesn't pay attention to the exterior and places no value in it whatsoever."
