Candace Cameron Bure Shares Secrets to Her Happy Marriage

The Full House star has a new movie about romance – and draws on her 19 year marriage for inspiration.

Published on May 9, 2015 12:45 PM

Candace Cameron Bure has been married for 19 years to former NHL star Valeri Bure – an eternity by Hollywood standards.

But like any couple with three children, the Bures have often had to redirect and refocus their marriage.

“Sometimes you’re nicer to strangers than you are to your spouse,” she tells PEOPLE. “You forget to do things that you promised you would do. You get comfortable and lazy. That happens in every marriage.”

“Chivalry is not dead,” she continues. “We try to remember that in our marriage, because it’s easy to forget to be a considerate spouse – on both sides. Things just fall by the wayside sometimes.”

The former Full House star – who will star in the spinoff Fuller House next year – says that a successful relationship sometimes takes considerable effort. “Marriage takes work,” she says. “You can either grow apart or grow together.”

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Bure draws on her marriage for inspiration for her latest TV movie, Just The Way You Are, that airs on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday night at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST.

In the movie, Bure plays a successful matchmaker who has lost the spark in her own marriage. Determined to save her relationship, she persuades her husband to go on a blind date with her.

“It just rang true” Bure says. “I liked that it addressed the bumps in the road of any marriage.”

For Bure, her partnership with the Hallmark Channel is a perfect match. “Their brand aligns with my brand,” says Bure, a committed Christian. “I love the idea of wholesome entertainment. There’s nothing that we can’t watch as a family, and that’s very important to me.”