Candace Cameron Bure on a 1990 episode of ‘Full House’ called ‘Shape Up’.Photo:ABC/MAX
ABC/MAX
The characters onFull Housemissed troubling signs and “red flags” in an infamous 1990 episode that found teenager D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) skipping meals to lose weight, according to a nutrition expert.
Full HousealumniAndrea BarberandJodie Sweetinrecapped the season 4 episode, “Shape Up,” on their rewatch podcastHow Rude, Tanneritosearlier this week,calling it “uncomfortable to watch.”They also pointed out the many moments in which the felt the show’s other characters, including the adults, should have recognized D.J.’s worrying behavior, like skipping meals and eating ice cube pops.
Lori Loughlin with Candace Cameron Bure in ‘Full House’ in 1990.ABC/MAX
Barber pointed to a scene early in “Shape Up,” in which Becky (Lori Loughlin) finds D.J. taping “thinsporation” photos of supermodels to the family’s refrigerator to stop herself from eating.
“I was like, Becky, that’s a red flag,” Barber noted.
Samuels agreed that this was one of the many “missed signals” she’d noted in the episode. She went on to explain why Becky’s advice to D.J. about healthy eating may not have been as sensible as it seemed.
“The problem is when Becky says, you know, ‘Well, you just have to eat like this, and here’s the standard meal plan,’ that already makes D.J. feel like she has failed because she’s like, well, what if she’s already doing that and it’s not working for her body? Or what if she doesn’t know how to do that and enjoy it?” Samuels said.
Lori Loughlin, Candace Cameron Bure and Bob Saget in ‘Full House’ in 1990.ABC/MAX
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Sweetin, 43, and Barber, 48, had also noted in their recap that Barber’s character, Kimmy, seemed entirely oblivious to her best friend’s insecurities, and wanted to know how she could have been more supportive of D.J.
“I think it’s important to just maybe ask more questions. You know, ‘Why do you feel like that? And maybe, yeah, point out those red flags, but not in a way that’s accusatory,” Samuels said.
Candace Cameron Bure and Andrea Barber in ‘Full House’ in 1990.ABC/MAX
Asked what she would change about the episode, Samuels said that she would “rewrite the adult script.”
“Maybe having more of a check on how they talk about their own bodies,” she explained. “Because the transfer of stress from adult to child is real, and especially when it comes to food. And so I think I would rewrite how they explained what healthy is and how to obtain that, and to also celebrate [D.J.] for who she is before any changes.”
Barber, meanwhile, wished the episode had revealed that her character was also insecure about her own body. The show, she said, posited that “Kimmy has the perfect body, and D.J. wants to look like that. ButI felt so uncomfortablebeing that thin as a 14-year-old girl.”
“For as much as, you know,Candace was self-conscious about her chipmunk cheeks, I was self-conscious about how skinny I was on my chicken legs, because that didn’t feel right either,” she recalled. “And so, you know, Kimmy’s confident and she’s oblivious, but I wish they had kind of revealed at the end that, you know what? Kimmy is just as insecure as D.J. It’s just that thinness was held up as … the dream to achieve. And it’s like, no, it’s not. Everybody feels self-conscious about something even though you look different.”
source: people.com
