Words like “controversial” weren’t used as People magazine recently boosted ABC anchor Robin Roberts in a cover story and how her mother assured her that God approves of homosexuality. Instead, People saved that word for evangelical Christian actress Candace Cameron Bure in the May 5 issue.
The headline on the Patrick Gomez article was “Faith, Family, and Full House: The former child star opens up about her controversial beliefs – and how they guide her life as a traditional wife and mother.”
Gomez highlighed how Bure believes in “wifely submission” and drew feminist criticism:
Bure’s beliefs – she’s a devout evangelical Christian – have made her something of a Hollywood outsider...A well-known author in Christian circles, Bure advocates for traditional marriage roles as described in the Bible, in which wives play a “submissive” role to their husbands.
Use of the S-word in her now book Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose sparked feminist criticism. Bure says she meant that while her voice is respected, it makes sense to have one spouse call the shots. And in her marriage, that’s Val, 40, a former hockey player who now runs Bure Family Wines, a small vineyard.
“We split responsibilities as evenly as possible,” she says. But it’s her husband who is the “leader” of the family. And she’s not apologizing for the arrangement: “Not everybody is going to like me or agree with my point of view,” Bure says. “But that’s okay.”
On the opposing page, under a photo of Candace and Val, this caption: “HER TRADITIONAL TAKE ON BEING A WIFE: “I honor God when I honor by husband,” Bure writes in her book Balancing It All. “I submit to his leadership.” Popular among evangelicals, wifely submission is based on biblical passages that tell women to be virtuous and obedient to their husbands. Bure says her husband has the final say, but her voice is heard. “We don’t always see eye to eye, but we talk it through – maybe more than he’d like!”
PS: Meanwhile, the Clintons are always lionized and never controverial. The May 5 issue also crows about Chelsea Clinton’s pregnancy announcement:
“Chelsea’s a machine. She’s super-efficient,” says Jen Lee Koss, a former roommate at Oxford...Like her high-achieving parents, Chelsea is, says Koss, ready to balance goals with family: “Her parents played such an integral part in her life, no matter how busy they were. I think that will translate absolutely with Chelsea and Marc...It’s a terrible analogy, but I think about Soren, their little dog. You can tell, they they’re going to be the most incredible parents.”
