Inside Candace Cameron Bure's Relationship With Her Daughter Natasha
Families composed of a mom, dad, and children used to be everywhere you looked on TV. But Candace Cameron Bure became a Friday-night fixture in American homes by showing viewers that kids can grow up happy and healthy with different family structures. However, away from the cameras, the "Full House" star started her real-life version of the classic sitcom family. In 1996, she married Russian-American hockey star, Valeri "Val" Bure and welcomed three kids with him. Their firstborn was their only daughter, Natasha Bure.
Natasha's parents met through "Full House" star Dave Coulier, who was a member of a celebrity hockey team when he befriended Val. The actor learned that Val was a "Full House" fan, so he played matchmaker by introducing the athlete to Candace, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The couple wed in 1996, and Candace decided to put her career on the backburner when Natasha was born two years later. "I've always wanted to take time to be a stay-at-home mom," she told Parent Guide News. "That was very important to me."
After Natasha came sons Lev and Maksim. In an interview with E! News, Candace revealed that Natasha was 10 years old when she decided to go back to work. Per Parents Canada, it was around that time Natasha caught the acting bug herself. For Candace, this marked the start of a delicate balancing act between being a supportive parent and allowing Natasha to forge her own path.
Candace Cameron Bure is a strict mom
When Natasha Bure and her brothers were younger, their mom and dad used a controversial parenting practice to control their behavior. "We would give them a spank on the bottom with instruction in love and prayer," Candace Cameron Bure told Lifeway in 2014. While Natasha insisted that her parents didn't force their religious views on her, she did tell The Courage, "I was always influenced in a Christian household. I was going to a Christian school, I was going to church, I was going to Bible study."
Candace told Lifeway that she began monitoring her daughter's social media accounts as she got older. On top of sending friend requests to Natasha's pals to see if they met with her approval, she also warned the teen that her accounts would be deleted if she violated her mom's rules three times. "Natasha's photo rules include no puckered lips or posed bathing suit pictures," Candace revealed. Her daughter was also only allowed to listen to music that her parents approved of, and parental controls prevented her and her siblings from watching anything racier than PG content on TV.
For Natasha, getting her driver's license came with a new rule: She had to text her mom when she reached her destination and when she left. "My goal as a parent is not to make my kids happy, but to guide them to be respectful, curious, responsible, resilient, kind, giving, and thoughtful adults," Candace told L.A. Parent.
How Natasha Bure rebelled against her mom
Candace Cameron Bure's attempts to lay down the law with her daughter weren't always successful, and Natasha Bure wasn't afraid to push back against her rules and restrictions. In a 2010 interview with Parents Canada, Candace shared an example of her daughter's refusal to take "no" for an answer. "I hear it almost every day, 'But mom, I'm the only one left in school that doesn't have my own cell phone,'" she said.
When Natasha was 15, her mom discovered what she believed was an effective method of getting her daughter to be more obedient. "I took away all her clothes, shoes, and accessories and left her with one pair of tennis shoes, one pair of jeans, one pair of workout shorts, two T-shirts, underwear, socks, and one set of pajamas," she recalled to Lifeway. Natasha had to be on her best behavior for months to earn her belongings back.
But when Natasha and Candace played "Never Have I Ever" for a 2020 YouTube video, Natasha confessed to continuing to rebel against her mom's strict rules. She revealed that during her senior year of high school, she often snuck out of the house, and Candace was shocked to learn that her daughter had defied her parents by attending a post-prom party after one of her successful escapes. Natasha also got drunk on at least one occasion, but she ended up with a hangover that made that particular act of rebellion impossible to hide. Oh, Mylanta!
Candace Cameron Bure unleashed her inner 'stage mom'
When Natasha Bure was 11 years old, she followed in her mom's footsteps by pursuing an acting career. "I'm kind of doing the same thing my mom did with me, running all over town taking her to auditions and we're having fun with it," Candace Cameron Bure told Parents Canada in 2010. Natasha also decided to branch out by doing a little modeling. When she walked the runway at New York Fashion Week for the first time in 2016, her proud mom told Us Weekly, "I'm not nervous, but I am totally a momager right now!"
Candace was also tempted to engage momager mode the following year when her daughter appeared alongside her in the Hallmark holiday movie, "Switched for Christmas." But while the star was a seasoned pro at getting into the holiday spirit for the Hallmark Channel's formulaic seasonal fare (so that's what happened to predictability), she avoided giving Natasha unsolicited advice about achieving the appropriate balance of comfort and joy. "I made it a point to be a costar and not a mom when we were filming," Candace told People.
When the mom and daughter filmed a 2022 "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" movie together, Candace took a much different approach. "I was having the best time because I had my camera out, I was videotaping everything," she confessed to E! News. "I'm also the producer of the movie, so I can do whatever I want, and I was just stage-momming it up."
They supported each other's brief reality careers
When Candace Cameron Bure competed on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2014, she revealed that her kids were her biggest cheerleaders. Still, Natasha Bure saw some room for improvement. "My daughter is like, 'Mom, you need to [use] this [expression],'" Candace told ABC News.
When Natasha got her own opportunity to compete on reality TV, she didn't exactly pounce on it. In an interview with Forbes, she explained why she almost turned down an offer to appear on "The Voice" in 2016. "The thought of getting eliminated or not singing perfectly on live television was so terrifying to me," she recalled. "I remember my mom literally saying, 'Just say yes. If it doesn't turn out the way you want, that's okay.' That is the only reason that I did that."
"Full House" fans were surprised to learn that Candace had a daughter with some impressive pipes. Her performance of the Elvis Presley song "Can't Help Falling in Love" got judge Adam Levine to turn around and add her to his team, and Candace's reaction was captured on camera. "Shut up!" she yelled while bouncing with excitement. On "The View," Candace revealed that Natasha didn't get her vocal abilities from her mom and confessed to living out one of her own dreams through her daughter. "I wish that I could sing," she said. Her vicarious singing career was cut short when Natasha was eliminated during the Battle Rounds the following week.
Natasha Bure was reluctant to work with her mom
In a 2009 interview with The TV Chick, Natasha Bure expressed eagerness to play the daughter of her mom's character in the ABC Family series, "Make It Or Break It." Candace Cameron Bure responded by saying, "That might be a little true to life." The two did go on to play mother and daughter in the 2017 movie, "Switched for Christmas," but Natasha became more reluctant to act alongside her mom as she got older. In 2019, she told ET that she wasn't interested in making a cameo on "Fuller House," explaining, "The reason I say 'no' is because I want that to be [Cameron's] thing." However, her mom eventually convinced Natasha to appear on the show using some good ol' fashioned mom guilt. "I understood where she was coming from. But I was like, 'It's totally up to you, but you'd break my heart if you didn't,'" she recalled to Closer Weekly.
Natasha also turned down multiple requests to play a younger version of her mom's character in an "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" movie before finally relenting. "I really didn't know if she was going to accept the part," Candace told Us Weekly. Speaking to ET, her daughter revealed why she was so hesitant about accepting offers to work with her. "There's a point in time where I kinda need to like fly my wings and flutter off by myself," she said.
Natasha misled her mom about her love life
When Natasha Bure was a teenager, Candace Cameron Bure was thrilled that she and her daughter were having conversations about topics that many other kids wouldn't be comfortable talking to their parents about. "We have some pretty intimate discussions," Candace boasted to People. So when Natasha told her mom that she wasn't dating much, she believed her. "Natasha hasn't brought anyone home yet ... because no one's good enough for papa and that's a really good thing," Candace told Us Weekly in 2019. In another interview with Closer Weekly, she praised her daughter for being so selective about who she dates.
But in 2021, Candace learned that her daughter was playing the field more than she was led to believe. "I apparently had it wrong," she told Closer Weekly. "She just wasn't telling me about all of her dates at the time." Natasha confirmed to ET that her dad was the main reason she rarely introduced any of her dates to her parents — but not for the reason her mom claimed. "I wanna save them the embarrassment of what he would say to them," she explained.
Thanks to Natasha's book, "Let's Be Real: Living Life as an Open and Honest You," Candace learned something else about her daughter's love life that wasn't previously divulged — the details of her first kiss. "I was like, 'I don't want to talk to you about it! Like, just read the book,'" she told ET of her mom's response to the passage.
Candace really wants her daughter to have kids
In 2021, Natasha Bure told Us Weekly that she mistakenly expected the trajectory of her life to mirror that of her mom in regard to marriage and parenthood. "I was going to get married at 20, then have a kid at 22,' she said. "That is very much not the case. I'm glad it's not because I'm not ready for that." Bure was 23 at the time of the interview, and Candace Cameron Bure wasn't exactly thrilled that her daughter hadn't even met the future father of her child yet. The "Fuller House" star wanted her house to be even fuller, and Natasha wasn't doing her part to make this happen. "I'm starting to be that annoying mom that's like, 'Come on, you're almost 22. I need grandchildren!'" Candace confessed to Closer Weekly in 2020. "I mean, I need a husband for her first, but then grandchildren!"
In 2020, Natasha had to wear a prosthetic stomach to play a pregnant character in the Lifetime movie, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story," and she told Us Weekly that it made her think about the possibility of becoming a parent. Her conclusion? "It was great, and that's enough for me right now." Her mother's reaction was a bit different. Natasha recalled to ET, "I sent them a bunch of pictures of me with the little baby bump and my mom was like, 'I can't wait to be a grandma!'"
Candace helped Natasha score some dream celeb encounters
Being the daughter of a "Full House" star comes with its fair share of perks, such as getting to meet celebrities who aren't your parent. Candace Cameron Bure certainly got to take advantage of being the mother of a Jennifer Lopez fan when Natasha Bure wanted to meet her music idol. In a 2014 interview with Channel Guide Magazine, Cameron reminisced about how she used her star power to score a backstage encounter with the "Hustlers" star on the set of "American Idol." She recalled, "Of course, I wanted to meet Jennifer Lopez too, but the whole point was for my daughter. And when JLo walked out, I felt like I turned into a 12-year-old."
Being in the presence of the "Let's Get Loud" singer left an awestruck Cameron unable to utter a word, but she certainly got loud after Lopez was out of earshot. "When my daughter got back into the car after we spent a little time talking to Jennifer, we screamed," she revealed. "We screamed and kicked our arms and legs in the air and yelled, 'Oh my gosh!! We just met JLo!'"
Cameron got to brag about being a cool mom again following the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, where she snapped a photo of Natasha posing with "Divergent" star, Ansel Elgort. Cameron shared the snapshot on Instagram with a caption reading, "I just got mom of the year for this pic."
Natasha dislikes that her mom gets credit for her career
Don't call Natasha Bure a nepotism baby. Celebrities with famous parents can't escape questions about whether they would have made it on their own, and it becomes even harder to dodge cries of familial favoritism after you accept a role from an established relative. However, Natasha insists that being the daughter of Candace Cameron Bure hasn't made it easier for her to find work in the entertainment industry. "A lot of people will kind of assume that if I get any job or work at all that it's from her," she said in a July 2022 "Today" interview. "Or it's given to me or it's handed to me, and it's honestly quite literally the opposite." Months earlier, Candace had told Us Weekly that she offered her daughter a role in an "Aurora Teagarden Mysteries" movie.
Natasha told People that she first became aware of the frustrating belief that her mom had a hand in all of her accomplishments when she was a child. The star recalled how some people would assume that even roles in school theater productions were handed to her at Candace's request. But what really grinds Natasha's gears are suggestions that she's not out there putting her nose to the grindstone to get the roles she wants. "I would say that I work for everything that I get, and I'm hustling on my own, and I have a completely separate life from my parents," she said.
The mother and daughter work together often
Candace Cameron Bure and Natasha Bure haven't just worked together as castmates in film and television projects. The mother and daughter have also strengthened their professional relationship by teaming up for a number of other endeavors, such as the necklaces they designed for 31 Bits in 2020. "Being able to create pieces of jewelry with my mom is a dream," Natasha told People.
In 2016, the two also combined their different viewpoints while co-contributing to a teen magazine's advice column. "Natasha will be able to relate to what it is like to be a teen in 2016, offering quick and current advice," Candace told J-14. "I'll offer advice from a mother [and] adult perspective, but let's not forget ... I was a teen once, too!" Their rare multigenerational appeal earned the duo a gig co-hosting the Movieguide Awards in 2019 — and it probably helped that the ceremony was being broadcast by one of Candace's most loyal employers at the time, the Hallmark Channel.
The mother and daughter have also supported each other's separate business ventures. In 2021, they modeled similar denim jumpsuits from Candace's QVC line, and Natasha's mom occasionally pops up on her popular YouTube channel, where fans can watch the pair cook together and answer fans' questions. Speaking to Forbes about her business relationship with her daughter, Cameron said, "I have a lot of insight and advice to offer her, but it's very important for Natasha to do it her way."
Natasha Bure defended her mom against JoJo Siwa
In a since-deleted TikTok video, singer JoJo Siwa shocked her fans by claiming that Candace Cameron Bure is the "rudest celebrity" she had ever encountered, per Entertainment Weekly. While Candace might conjure up visions of sugarplums and candy canes for fans of her work as a seasonal sweetheart on the Hallmark Channel, Siwa explained that the actor left a bad taste in her mouth by declining to take a photo with her when she was 11 years old. "It was a rough experience for me," the former "Dance Moms" star told Page Six.
But Natasha Bure had little sympathy for JoJo's bruised feelings. Per Cosmopolitan, she appeared to defend her mom on her Instagram Story, writing, "Respectfully, someone saying no to taking a photo with you is not a 'rough experience.' This generation is so sensitive and has zero backbone. Grow up. There are bigger issues in the world than this." Still, it was a big enough issue for Candace and Siwa to have a heart-to-heart about it, later. "We had about a 10-minute conversation, and it was sweet," Siwa told Page Six. "She apologized."
The former Nickelodeon star also explained that what really upset her was that the "Full House" alum graciously posed for pics with other fans after snubbing her. Maybe Natasha would feel a little more compassion for Siwa if she could imagine Ansel Elgort doing the same to her when she asked him for a photo as a star-struck teen.
Natasha also supported her mom amid more backlash
Ahead of the 2022 holidays, all was not merry and bright when Candace Cameron Bure told The Wall Street Journal that no same-sex married couples would appear on the network she had abandoned the Hallmark Channel for. "I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core," she said. On Instagram, JoJo Siwa joined those criticizing Bure's comments by sharing a screenshot of an article bearing the title, "Candace Cameron Bure's Plan for New Cable Channel: No Gays." In her caption, she expressed incredulity over what appeared to be a blatant declaration about who would be excluded from GAC's programming. "This is rude and hurtful to a whole community of people," she wrote.
Natasha Bure was quick to jump to her mother's defense with her own Instagram post. She decried "cancel culture" and praised her mom for standing up for her religious convictions. "I love you [mom], for continuously choosing Christ before all," she wrote. "The media is an absolutely vile space for negativity and I applaud you every time for how you handle yourself with the utmost grace. As they continuously twist the narrative to beat down on the Kingdom, you stand firm in faith and never let others dim your light for Him."
Cameron also responded to the backlash on Instagram, claiming that she told The Wall Street Journal that the casts and crews of GAC programs would be inclusive, but the outlet didn't publish those remarks.
Natasha Bure has mixed feelings about her mom's PDA
In 2020, Candace Cameron Bure posted a photo of her husband grabbing one of her breasts, and it sparked a discussion over whether the public display of affection was appropriate Instagram content for the devout Christian. She confessed to ET that it embarrasses her kids when she makes headlines for behavior that they'd rather not think about, like their dad getting handsy. However, she's leading by example. "As a mom, I have already tried to have my influence with my kids to be like, 'Dude, once you're married, have fun!" she said.
Natasha Bure talked to Us Weekly about her parents' flirtatious behavior, saying, "I, like, get cringed out by it when I'm in person with them. I'm like, 'This is too much.'" However, she still informed her Instagram followers that her favorite picture of her parents is the infamous touchy-feely photo, per People. "I thought it was hysterical. My dad never takes photos with anybody in our family," she told Us Weekly.
Natasha explained why she has a love-hate relationship with her mom and dad's amorous antics in an interview with E! News. "I love it for them, but I don't want to see it," she said. She also told Us Weekly that she absolutely does not want to hear anything her mom has to say about her sex life, but she celebrated how her parents have managed to maintain a strong love connection. "I hope that I'm like that when I'm their age," she told E! News.
The mom and daughter share clothes
When you've been in the entertainment industry as long as Candace Cameron Bure has, you're bound to end up with a closet that will become one of your teen daughter's favorite places to visit. The "Full House" star found this out the hard way. Natasha Bure confessed to Us Weekly, "When I was younger, I used to steal all her clothes and she would get so mad at me." But those wardrobe raids were just her way of expressing her admiration for Candace's impeccable taste. "I really love my mom's style and the things that she wears," she gushed to ET.
And it's not like Natasha didn't return the favor. Her mom told Us Weekly that she can always rely on her daughter for style advice that makes it easier for her to figure out what to wear. "She has a great eye for fashion," Candace said. "So if I'm choosing between shoes or jewelry or a belt, an accessory, I always go with whatever she tells me looks best — and vice versa too!"
It's not uncommon for Candace and Natasha to wear similar looks, such as the strapless red dresses they rocked at a wedding. According to Natasha, she and her mom are on the same wardrobe wavelength, so when you see them twinning, it's rarely a conscious choice. "People think we play into this whole twin thing and we're like, 'No, it's literally just our minds think alike,'" she told Us Weekly.
They seem to genuinely enjoy hanging out together
Natasha Bure and Candace Cameron Bure have the Hallmark version of a mother-daughter relationship. "We both love being goofy together and laughing a lot. I think that's what I love most about my relationship with my mom," Natasha said in an interview with 31 Bits. Cameron told Us Weekly that it makes her feel pretty warm and fuzzy inside to know that Natasha considers her a friend. The two besties certainly looked like they were having a blast playing "Never Have I Ever" on Natasha's YouTube channel, with the pair admitting to going skinny dipping, and her mom spilling the embarrassing fact that Natasha once peed on a bench when she was 8 years old.
The young star even helped her mom find a new audience on TikTok, where the twosome have shown off their perfectly coordinated dance moves and lip-syncing skills. Apparently, creating TikToks with Natasha requires a lot of patience. "We have to film it a billion times so she can be absolutely perfect," Candace told ET. Of course, they have the same favorite video – a lip-synced homage to "Schitt's Creek." They even rocked costumes to recreate Moira (Catherine O'Hara) and David's (Dan Levy) iconic cheese-folding scene.
But capturing their relationship the best was Natasha's visual response to a TikTok question, "You're not one of those daughters who hangs out with your mom more than your friends, right?" Performing a dance, Natasha smiles wryly at the camera before turning to reveal her mom proudly dancing behind her.