In a new interview with ET, Candace Cameron Bure reflected on the 'Full House' family's bond as they grieved Bob Saget's loss.
The lyrics of the hit sitcom's theme song have rung all the more true in the aftermath of Tanner patriarch Bob Saget's untimely death at 65 years old in January.
"It's been a rough roller coaster," Candace Cameron Bure, who played Saget's oldest TV daughter, D.J. Tanner, told ET's Lauren Zima. "It's hard to think that it's almost a month. I still don't believe that he's gone."
Stung by the unexpected loss, Bure shared she's "always waiting for him to text and chime in and make a joke."
"I'm like waiting, like, come on! When is this gonna happen?" she said. "And I know it's not going to happen."
In the midst of her grief, however, Bure has found the most comfort in the relationships she shares with Saget's wife, Kelly Rizzo, his daughters, friends and their Full House family.
"We've all been in really close contact and that was strangely one of the most unreal weeks of my life...from the week that he passed up into the funeral because we were all together every day practically 24 hours a day," she said. "You know who your real friends are and who family is and you know who shows up and it means a lot and you don't want to let go of that, so having that contact with everyone -- that's been the most helpful part of it... None of us are alone in grieving him."
And while they've always been bonded, losing Saget has made them come even more together. "If we could get any closer, which we're already family, but we are," Bure confirmed. "The relationships become even more precious the older we all get because you realize they could be gone tomorrow, so we're texting even more, we're talking even more, we're hanging out even more."
The actress continued, "Hopefully you have a good family, but you get to choose your friends and when you have those really close friendships that are unconditional friendships, the love is always there. You have to hang on to them because they are precious and I feel like rare in life at times, so my Full House family is incredibly precious to me and to all of us."
Last week, Bure spoke with Today's Hoda Kotb, where she touched on the final text messages she exchanged with Saget.
"We were going to have dinner," she said on Today. "And we got into a little tiff. And his flight was delayed. We ended up not having dinner. But in Bob fashion, the next day he wrote me, like, what would be pages long of text. And he was apologizing, saying he was cranky and he was just so sorry."
She went on to explain that Saget's text message included him writing, "You're like, my favorite person on the earth. And I acted like Dolly. I was getting ready to take a late flight, and I was annoyed." Saget referenced his late mother, Dolly, who died in 2014.
Bure also revealed that Saget, whom she met when she was only 10 years old, was the first man she ever saw cry.
"One of the things that made Bob so special, he was so emotionally available all the time," Bure said. "And he was really the first person in my life, as a man, that I saw cry and have those emotions right at the forefront of his conversations. I felt so safe with him."
More than three decades after that fateful role alongside Saget on Full House, Bure's acting career is once again crossing paths with her own daughter's. She and her firstborn, Natasha, are both set to star in the upcoming Hallmark movie, Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder, as the same character. "Teenage Aurora is being played by none other than my daughter Natasha," Bure shared. With co-star Lexa Doig's real-life daughter, Mia, also playing the teenage version of her character, Sally, the two moms were admittedly "the biggest stage moms ever," according to Bure.
"Our biggest note to them -- we had to tell them," she said. "We [were] like, 'You guys are too cool, like, stop. We're really dorky.'"
For more from Bure, including her size-inclusive QVC clothing line, see the video above.
ET also spoke with Full House star Jodie Sweetin this week about her relationship with Saget and recalled the lesson that he taught her about handling loss and grief.
"The thing that I keep remembering and I keep saying is that, Bob, he suffered so much loss in his life. His sisters and other siblings that passed before he was born and his parents, there was a lot of loss in Bob's life," Sweetin told ET. "But he walked through it with humor, and he learned that from his dad, Ben. One of the things I just remember him trying to joke and laugh and make those inappropriate jokes at some of the darker things because...otherwise how do you deal with it? How do you process it? It weighs down on you and that's something that I will always remember and that I find I do now is I deal with things through laughter or maybe I don't deal with things."
She also touched on Saget's signature hugs, describing that it was "much like Bob."
"It was genuine, it was real, he took a moment with it and he would give you a hug and nuzzle his [head] because he was so tall," she recalled. "And I just remember he'd lean in and put his head on your shoulder, and I just have so many great hugs from Bob. I remember that as an adult, everything, and he'd see me and go, 'Jo!' and he'd just give me this big hug and I can hear it. I can hear his voice when he would give me a hug, and so I'll always remember that." See more in the video below.
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Haunted by Murder premieres Feb. 20 at 10/9c on the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel.
RELATED CONTENT:
