Candace Cameron Bure Defends ‘Submission’ in Marriage

Outspoken Christian Candace Cameron Bure has been married for more than 17 years. But the former Full House actress has angered liberals with her marriage advice.

In her new book, Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose, Bure writes: “My husband is a natural-born leader. I quickly learned that I had to find a way of honoring his take-charge personality and not get frustrated about his desire to have the final decision on just about everything. I am not a passive person, but I chose to fall into a more submissive role in our relationship because I wanted to do everything in my power to make my marriage and family work.”

Bure, who has three children with retired NHL player Val Bure, has been criticized for her use of the word submissive and discussed her interpretation of the word in an interview on HuffPost Live.

“The definition that I’m using with the word submissive is the biblical definition of that,” she explained. “So, it is meekness; it is not weakness. … It’s strength under control. It is bridled strength.”

She continued, “I love that my man is a leader. I want him to lead and be the head of our family. And those major decisions do fall on him. It doesn’t mean I don’t voice my opinion. It doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion. I absolutely do. But it is very difficult to have two heads of authority.”

“When you’re competing with two heads, that can pose a lot of problems or issues,” Bure added. “So within my marriage, we are equal in our … importance, but we are just different in our performances within our marriage.”

She went on to say, “Clearly I have been married for 17 years and we have a very happy marriage and it works very well. I trust my husband, but that trust has been built. And I know that because I trust him and I build him up and give him the respect that he would like to have within marriage, that he so listens to everything I have to say and takes my opinion very seriously. And many of the times he will sway to what I would like, even if he doesn’t see eye to eye with me because he really values my opinion.

“Again, I use that word but I feel like it’s taken so strongly when I’m like, ‘Everyone, just calm down.’”

In a response to critics, Bure posted a photo of herself working out on her Facebook page, with this caption: “Nothing weak about this- people talk about what they don’t understand.”