Candace Cameron Bure opens up on eating disorder

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Candace Cameron Bure grew up in the spotlight but it wasn't until she took a break from Hollywood that she developed an eating disorder.

"I had a great body image growing up," Bure said at a panel for #EatingRecoveryDay in New York City, according to People. "My parents were wonderful, and protective of not allowing the entertainment industry to shape me into what they believed a standard of body image of perfection was."

But when Bure took a step back from acting and moved to Montreal to support her husband's hockey career, she began to feel isolated and alone.

"The change of having worked since I was 5 years old to now becoming a wife and soon-to-be mom, and living in a city where I didn't have family and friends around me, I kind of lost the sense of who I was," she said.

Bure said she spent many nights alone so she turned to the one friend that was "so readily available anytime I wanted, and that for me was food."

"It became a very destructive relationship, and it was one that really caught me off guard," she said. "I got into a cycle of binge eating and feeling such guilt and shame for that, that I would start purging. And without even knowing, it soon just took over to a point where you feel such a loss of control."

Despite trying to hide her eating disorder from her friends and family, her father eventually stepped forward when he discovered her dangerous behavior.

Bure said her faith helped her recover.

"It was never about the weight for me," she told People. "It was an emotional issue."

The "View" cohost says she's feeling more confident now than ever before.

"Each year that I get older, I feel better and better, and more confident about my body and the woman that I am."