Candace Cameron Bure and Danica McKellar have had a lot on common throughout their lives, even if work did not always see them cross paths. They were child stars of feel-good television who went on to be queens of feel-good movies. They also share a deep devotion to their faith, a trait that McKellar credits Bure with inspiring in herself.
From 1988 to 1993, America was charmed by McKellar as Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years. Around the same time, everywhere you looked, there’s Bure as D.J. Tanner in Full House, a role she maintained from ’87 to ’95, and again for Netflix’s Fuller House. Fortunately, while early stardom can spell drama for many young actors, for these two, it set them on a course of friendship, support, and powerful revelations. Here’s how.
Danica McKellar and Candace Cameron Bure struck up a formative friendship
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One of the earliest interactions these two former teen idols had was through a love triangle, when McKellar agreed to be the girlfriend of Growing Pains star Jeremy Miller, much to Bure’s chagrin because she thought she and Miller were a couple at the time, back in ’89. McKellar got the full picture of things years later, and while she addressed an adult Miller with a sharp, “So Jeremy, tsk, tsk, not good,” there are no hard feelings between any of them.
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McKellar dismissed any possibility of a rivalry, noting that they were just 13 at the time and not starting anything serious. On the other hand, she celebrated, “Luckily my friendship with Candace has survived just fine.” They are part of the Great American Family team, populating many treasured holiday films and specials over the years.
Outside of a studio or movie set, they spend time together in various ways, some of them with deep emotional meaning to them both. McKellar’s dive into religion is a recent one, and one she credits to “my good friend Candace Cameron Bure” because she “brought me to church. And all I can say is that something happened.”
Bure helped McKellar have a startling revelation
“I am so grateful to Candace Cameron Bure for bringing me into this era of my life,” said McKellar, reflecting on her new relationship with Christianity. “She really had a lot to do with it. Also, my dad. He’s been a believer for a long time.”
Bure’s actions set McKellar up to see faith in a new light. She explained, “I’d always been so biased against Christianity for various reasons, mostly because of the bad reputation it’s gotten with causing wars, and you think, ‘Oh, Christians are these really judgmental people,’ and all this religious stuff. The truth is, Jesus was anti-religion. He was anti-religion, and I didn’t even realize that.”
For this reason, even though she had “been around Christianity my whole life in some way, shape, or form, but it never really clicked.” Brought to church by Bure, McKellar recalled, “All I know is… I was flooded with this love and understanding.”
She continued, “Everything I always thought about there being some higher power and wanting to do the right thing, just because it’s the right thing, when no one’s watching, why that matters, and it all just came into focus. And I feel so blessed.”
“I do have this very recent memory of being a nonbeliever, and I have no judgment whatsoever, I just want people to feel the love and peace that I feel now,” McKellar added.
