Kirk Cameron reveals a ‘pretty girl’ was behind his spiritual conversion
She was heaven sent to the set.
Former teen idol Kirk Cameron revealed how divine intervention on the set of “Growing Pains” — in the form of a pretty actress with a bit part on the popular ’80s sitcom — led to his conversion from atheist to devout Christian when he was 17.
“What ruined my atheism was a pretty girl. She was so cute, I wanted to go out on a date with her and she said, ‘Well, meet me this weekend.’ I said, ‘Great.’ And so she gave me the address.
“And where did I show up? At a church,” he recalled.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, please, I can’t believe this. I’m going to church? I don’t even believe in this.’ But I’m thinking, ‘I’m an actor so I could fake my way through a one-hour church service.'”
Cameron — who is currently filming his children’s show, “Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk,” which will premiere on YouTube in November — said that while sitting in the pew, he heard a message from the minister that led him on a path to God.
“It made me start asking questions. And I eventually came to the conclusion that there’s a lot that I don’t know, a lot that I don’t understand. And there are brilliant people in the world throughout history who are 100% believers,” said the LA native.
The dad of six — who rose to fame on “Growing Pains,” playing high schooler Mike Seaver, “a slacker with his schoolwork … more interested in girls and having fun” — married one of his series’ co-stars, Chelsea Noble.
The couple lives in the LA area with their four adopted and two biological children — Jack, Isabella, Anna, Luke, Olivia and James, aged 22 to 27.
The heartthrob frequently graced the covers of teenybopper magazines, which is “very embarrassing” for his kids.
His son, James, in particular, finds the glamour shots, which Cameron’s mom has saved in a time capsule, “humiliating.”
“He looks at these pictures of me like, you know, on a Tiger Beat poster in a tank top and suspenders, flexing my bicep — what I had of one at 15 years old — and he’s like, ‘Dad, this is so embarrassing, like my friends see this stuff. . . . You should have thought of us kids before you did this,'” Cameron, now 53, laughs.
