A little over two years ago, Candace Cameron Bure left Hallmark and signed a deal with Great American Family. She had been at the network for well over a decade, and her departure was a major deal since she was one of Hallmark’s biggest stars. To this day, the Full House vet is still asked why she made the move, and recently, she defended her decision.
In an Instagram Q&A, Bure was asked about why she left Hallmark. While the decision and move was made years ago, it’s still a hot topic, and the actress upheld her decision to go to Great American Family, saying (via Us Weekly):
I’m more than an actor. Growth in my company as well as my achievements in business is extremely important to me.
Bure is very invested in GAF’s growth, and she’s posted a lot about it enthusiastically. Since leaving Hallmark, she’s starred in A Christmas…Present and My Christmas Hero, plus her movie Ainsley McGregor Mysteries: A Cast for the Winemaker is in post-production and will likely premiere on the 2024 TV schedule. On top of all that, she’s also served as an executive producer on all these projects along with a few others. So, she’s made quite the impact at GAF, and she plans to continue doing so.
Continuing to explain her decision, Candace Cameron Bure said that while she loves Hallmark and the work she did there, she wanted to grow as an artist and a businesswoman, writing:
It wasn’t so much about leaving as it was about an opportunity to grow a new network that puts faith and family at the forefront of its content. I’m very proud of the work I did at Hallmark for 15 years and love all my friends there 🥰.
Earlier this spring, the actress opened up about producing and acting in movies for GAF while working as a producer on Just in Time, which premiered back in March. In an Instagram post, she explained that she’s grateful that she gets to live her dream of “making family and faith-centered movies.”
However, while it’s great that she seems to be thriving at her current network, what’s happened amid this transition from one network to another hasn’t all been sunshine and roses.
In late 2022, Bure made controversial comments about “traditional marriage.” At the time, she explained that GAF would “keep traditional marriage at the core” of its programming while networks like Hallmark were adding LGBTQ+ projects to their lineups. This was the cause of a lot of backlash, and she candidly addressed the issue almost a year later saying she’s “never taken those types of punches before.”
Now, that rocky patch seems to be in the past, she’s thriving at GAF, and she has no bad blood with Hallmark. As she said she’s “proud” of her work there and she still has friends at her old network.
Candace Cameron Bure is now heading into her third year with Great American Family, and she seems to love working with the network as an actress and producer. As we learn more about what she has coming up at GAF we’ll be sure to keep you posted, and in terms of her old network, we’ll keep you updated on all things Hallmark too, especially when it comes to their holiday movie schedule.