Candace Cameron Bure was one of the secret celebrity performers revealed during the January 14 episode of We Are Family. Candace’s cousin Kenzie Mae performed a sensational rendition of “Un-Break My Heart” by Toni Braxton before singing a duet of Donna Summers’ hit “Hot Stuff” with Candace. Hollywood Life spoke exclusively with Candace and Kenzie about We Are Family, and the Full House star admitted she was intimidated “so much” to sing on the show.
“I really did it for Kenzie,” Candace, 47, said. “She was the first person that popped into my mind when I got the offer. I’ve been asked to be on other shows that have singing elements, and I’ve said no to all of them because I have no confidence in singing. It’s not something that I do publicly. I’ll sing at church or I’ll sing in the shower or in my car. That’s about it. But I just thought this was more fun and bigger than my fear. I wanted to be able to give Kenzie a platform and have everyone hear her beautiful voice, so I was like, I’m going to do it. I’ll just be brave and whatever I sound like I sound like, but we’re just going to go out there and have fun together.”
Kenzie knew that Candace wouldn’t be “comfortable” singing a “big ballad” on the show, so that’s how she settled on a lively song like “Hot Stuff.” She continued, “I think we wanted to just have fun, so we chose ‘Hot Stuff’ as the other option to just come out with a bang and just jump around.”
Candace and Kenzie are cousins through their parents. Candace’s mom and Kenzie’s dad are siblings. The Fuller House star revealed she’s always known Kenzie had a great voice. “It’s been beautiful to watch over the years,” Candace said.
Kenzie knew from an early age that she had famous cousins. In addition to Candace, Kirk Cameron rose to fame after his Growing Pains role. Kenzie recalled the moment she knew she had famous family members.
“I think for some reason, the first thing that pops in my head is probably when I was young, I went to church and had a Sunday school teacher. I was probably like 7 years old,” Kenzie told Hollywood Life. “I had mentioned Kirk and Candace’s names and my Sunday School teacher was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Kirk, your cousin, I had a pillowcase with his face on it.’ When I was young, I was like, what? I think as a kid, that was kind of the first time that I had realized that. But they don’t flaunt it around the family. They are just family when we have family dinners or Christmas or any kind of holidays or weddings or whatever. It’s just family. So I think for some reason, that’s my first memory as a kid. But besides that, it’s just family.”
For Candace, We Are Family was the perfect opportunity to continue highlighting how much family means to her. “We really love each other, and I feel very blessed that we have such a great extended family that truly enjoys hanging out with each other,” Candace said. “We really do. It’s fun. The whole show is such a great concept. It’s so much fun to watch. I love, love, love that it gets to put the spotlight on other tremendously talented family members.” We Are Family airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on FOX.