Candace Cameron Bure got emotional while reflecting on how “harshly” she treated her body during her early years.
On Tuesday’s episode of her eponymous podcast, the “Full House” alum admitted that she used to be “so mean” to herself before turning to the Bible for help.
Bure said she has “very vivid memories of being in 5th grade and 6th grade” when she first started to feel “so bad” about her body.
The actress revealed she has “been on every single diet plan since [she] was 12 years old,” from Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers to Nutrisystem and more.
Given her “history of eating disorders,” the “Fuller House” star explained that she has always struggled to maintain a healthy relationship with food.
Bure, 49, noted that things only got worse in the ’90s when “super stick skinny” supermodels became the blueprint.
However, she broke down in tears while recalling an eye-opening dream she had while “working through some really deep issues in therapy.”
The “View” alum said the “random” dream was inspired by a story in Numbers 22 in the Bible, regarding a man name Balaam beating his donkey despite the mule serving him tirelessly.
The actress likened Balaam’s treatment of the donkey to how she has treated her body.
“So that’s the story that is in the Bible and I wake up from this dream one morning and God just vividly showed me that I’ve been like Balaam,” she said while getting teary-eyed.
“I’ve whipped my body. I’ve spoken to it so harshly. So mean. ‘What are you doing? Why do you look this way? Why are you fat? Why can’t you be like every other body?’”
“And then God allowed my body to speak back,” she said through tears. “And my body said back to me, ‘Have I not been the body that’s carried you all the days of your life? Am I not your legs that allow you to walk? Am I not your arms that allow you to pick up and feed yourself?”
Bure said the “amazing revelation” led her to question why she treated her body so “badly.”
“It was the weirdest story out of the Bible that God spoke to me about how mean I’ve been to my body,” she continued. “And yet I just never saw it that way. It’s like this beautiful, amazing thing that God gave me.”
Bure said the dream was “so enlightening” for her and she was “so grateful” to have had the wake-up call.
“Since that time it’s given me a whole different perspective of how I think about my body. And when I want to use harsh words against it, or am just unhappy with it, I just think about that story.”
She added, “I think about the gratitude that I have for my body.”
Bure also shared the clip on her Instagram, writing, “I was so mean to myself… and looking back, it breaks my heart.
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“Learning to speak with kindness to my body has been a journey, and I know I’m not alone in this,” she wrote in the caption. “To those who relate — I hope you can feel me giving you the biggest virtual hug right now.”
