We’ve all heard the phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” but very few of us understand the idiom the to same extent as Bryan Cureington, who recently discovered that someone in his family had thrown away a Make My Year winning lottery ticket.

The winning ticket was reportedly purchased at the local Muse Food Mart and was one of just four big winners. Even though Cureington found the ticket in the trash, he’s still eligible to cash it in and is expecting a payout of about $142,000 after state and federal tax withholdings. Not too shabby, for a discarded ten-dollar lotto ticket.

Surprisingly, Cureington isn’t the only lucky lotto winner to almost miss out on a big win. A month earlier, Kennet “Kenny” McGuire told a gas station worker to toss his Powerball winner in the trash because the attendant notified him that “he couldn’t cash it.” The gas station clerk soon learned that he was unable to cash in the McGuire’s ticket is because it was a winning ticket worth $50,000! After sorting out the mix-up, McGuire stated that he’d like to spend his winnings paying off debt and taking his family to the Six Flags amusement park.

“[My wife] keeps joking with me, saying things like, ‘You had $50,000 in your wallet for ten days and didn’t tell me? How selfish are you?’” said McGuire jokingly. What a pleasant surprise for a deserving family!

In another incident in Macomb County, Michigan, a man discovered a Multiplier Spectacular ticket that his wife practically tossed in the garbage after he bought it as a birthday present for his wife. The anonymous couple brought home a whopping $2 million grand prize.

“We don’t consider ourselves to be lucky, so this was a nice surprise,” said the husband to Michigan Lottery officials.

There is no denying that Candace Cameron and Valeri Bure have developed a reputation for being the poster American couple. However, the Full House star has recently shared some interesting details that shed a new light on their seemingly perfect relationship.

Candace Cameron tied the knot with NHL star Valeri Bure back in 1996. Despite the fact that their public image appears to be practically bulletproof, this doesn’t mean that fans and critics alike haven’t poked holes in the couple’s love life…

If there was ever an environment where people find it particularly difficult to maintain a relationship, then it has to be Hollywood. One can only speculate as to whether or not a couple as seemingly perfect as Candace and Valeri are the same in private. At any rate, Candace has recently fueled speculation by suggesting in recent interviews that the public might not have the entire picture when it comes to her relationship with Valeri. Were the Bures keeping some secrets?

Cameron’s laid the groundwork for her public image back in the late 80s and it didn’t do any harm that she was born into a famous family. Both her mother and brother were famous performers in their own rights, with the latter being a teen heartthrob who evolved from child stardom. While brother Kirk was best known for his role as Mike Seaver in the sitcom Growing Pains, Candace also made a name for herself as DJ Tanner in Full House.

It was a peculiar childhood for Candace, to say the least. She virtually grew up with her cast members on Full House. Yet the young actress was able to exercise her acting muscles elsewhere on other projects.  Although people remember her best for her role in the hit sitcom, Candace also proved that she was able to perform in a more dramatic role in the TV movie No One Would Tell. She also got the chance to follow in her brother’s footsteps on Growing Pains.

It seemed like Cameron’s relationship with Valeri Bure was destined to be, which was evident from the moment she met him. Her role in Full House essentially gave her an opportunity to meet the Russian hockey player when she went to support co-star Dave Coulier at a charity hockey match. Candace, who was 19 years old at the time, remembers meeting 21-year-old Valeri like it was tomorrow. “We were looking at these two cute men on the ice, and I was like ‘I wanna meet that one, the blonde one.'”

Cameron’s co-star Coulier was essentially the man who brought the two together. At that fateful hockey match, Dave introduced the pair and it wouldn’t take long before they organized their first date – a day later, to be precise. Candace and Valeri truly hit it off, and after a series of dates, the two eventually became a couple and even tied the knot. It’s as if the two were inseparable after first meeting and the public have been obsessed with them ever since.

Although the two were still forming their own beliefs and shaping themselves as individuals, the young couple were adamant from day one that their relationship would go the distance. It would only take a year for the couple to decide that they wanted to get married. It was surprising, but nevertheless, Candace and Valeri made it happen and all of her co-stars from Full House came to the wedding. Actors, actresses, family, and friends were in attendance to watch the couple tie the knot.

It was natural for people to be skeptical about Candace and Valeri’s young love. However, they were determined to silence the critics and reassure the fans that their love was genuine. Putting the public’s doubts to one side, they never let the scrutiny get to them and always fought back with public displays of affection and glamorous photos. They also paid their respects to Dave Coulier for basically setting the two up. Valeri even sent him a hockey stick with the message “Thanks for Candace” written on it.

It wouldn’t take long before Candace and Valeri welcomed their first child into the world. Daughter Natasha was born in 1998 and just two years later, their son Lev followed her. It didn’t stop there. Two years after that, their third child Maksim was born. In just a few years, the couple made a family for themselves. Despite this though, Candace know how hard it is to keep things fresh between her and Valeri. They have learned how to balance their love life and family life.

In 2008, Candace got into a bit of trouble after recommending a book to her Full House co-star Jodie Sweetin. The book, On Becoming Baby Wise, promotes feeding schedules for babies from birth. This directly opposes the American Association of Pediatrics’ recommendation of feeding a baby whenever it is hungry. As a result of the news, many fans questioned Candace’s move and also wondered whether she was fit to be a mother. Naturally, Candace was adamant that people should be open to different methods.

Not only did Candace build a family with Valeri, but she also committed herself to the Christian faith. When brother Kirk became religious at 17 years of age, he was quick to show Candace what he had learned and passed on his beliefs. Candace was completely into Kirk’s way of thinking and way of life that she asked if she could borrow his holy books and learn more about the faith. Christianity has been important to Candace ever since.

Candace decided that she needed to take a step from acting so that she could live a more family-centric life. Eventually, though, she went back into the world of acting, appearing in a couple of Hallmark movies as well as Disney’s That’s So Raven. Yet Candace was able to strike the perfect balance this time between her work life and family life. Many families have been broken up by the pressures of the Hollywood lifestyle, but Candace and Valeri are still standing.

Candace laid everything bare in her book Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose. She wrote about how her perspective on family and love has changed for the better. Specifically, though, she has adapted every aspect of her life to her newfound faith in Christianity and that is the primary focus of the book. Candace used the term “submissive” to describe herself when making clear how she approaches the relationship with both Valeri and her kids.

It seems like her book worried a lot of readers, especially with the following: “My husband is a natural-born leader. I quickly learned that I had to find a way of honoring his take-charge personality and not get frustrated about his desire to have the final decision on just about everything. I am not a passive person, but I chose to fall into a more submissive role in our relationship because I wanted to do everything in my power to make my marriage and family work.”

In a climate where many of Hollywood’s finest have adopted a feminist stance on numerous matters, promoting equality and egalitarianism, Candace has broken the mold with her words. They suggest that it is perfectly fine to be secondary to one’s spouse when it comes to decision making. “The definition I’m using with the word ‘submissive’ is the Biblical definition of that, so, it is meekness, it is not weakness,” she said. “It is strength under control, it is bridled strength.”

Critics were still unforgiving of Candace despite her efforts to explain herself. While the word “submissive” kept getting thrown around as a personal vendetta against her, Candice tried clarifying her words again. She said that people “don’t understand the Biblical definition of the word,” going on to say: “I think they’re thinking of it in terms of a perverted Fifty Shades of Grey kind of definition, or an oppression, or even a dictatorship. And that is not what I’m talking about.”

Despite the controversy caused by her book, Candace reiterated that she and her husband “have a very wonderful marriage and that’s why I have felt comfortable sharing about it in my book. I had no idea this was going to stir this much controversy.” She went on to say, “We have a marriage in which we want to honor God, and so I just was explaining that. But this little word in there is causing everybody to just get into a tizzy about it.”

Candace continued to go on the defensive through her Instagram account! In this photo, she wrote the following caption: “Nothing weak about this – people talk about what they don’t understand.” As a result, Candance actually received a lot of love for her message, with one user writing, “being submissive isn’t weak at all…it’s Biblical! Good for you.” Another user wrote, “I agree there is nothing weak or wrong about your life or marriage. But when you publicize it and sell it, I believe there is.”

Although Candace did everything in her power to set things straight with the “Submissive Gate,” she knew that things had got out of hand. “I’m a very strong woman and an opinionated woman, but I don’t think a marriage is at its best when you have two people vying for the same position,” she said in another interview. The actress was simply asking for more backlash from the critics and went on to say that “ultimately I will defer to my husband”.

Amazingly, Valeri only visited Candace a couple of times when she was filming episodes of Full House. The reason for this is that he didn’t like watching her in scenes with other men, even though it was simply for the cameras. “He’s always held a position that, ‘I don’t want to ever tell you not to or stop you from your job,’ and all that, but he doesn’t want to watch and I respect that,” she said. “It’s the boundaries.”

Unlike other celebrities whose fans have eventually got over controversial things they said, Candace can’t seem to overcome the damage that her words have done to her reputation. Even a year after what she said, Candace still felt like she was forced to defend herself. “I put [my husband] on a pedestal so he can grow. And he does the same for me,” she said. Candace has never compromised her own beliefs and opinions ever since first pursuing them.

The best place that Candace felt she could turn to was her holy book – The Bible. “Men and women are different in how they want to feel love and respect,” she said. “To go back to the Bible, men are told to love their wives and women are told to respect their husbands.” Regardless, many of Cameron’s fans couldn’t reconcile her staunch Christian beliefs and their own progressive views about things such as female empowerment and gender equality.

Once again, Candace was put in a situation where she had to defend herself, this time on the daytime talk show The View. So when her words were brought as one of the topics of conversation, Cameron was ready to hit back once again. With the title of the topic being “Does a relationship need a leader?” Candace once again used the term “submissive” to describe the dynamic between her and Valeri. However, the panel was extremely critical of her views.

One of those critics happened to be Whoopi Goldberg, who is best known for her roles in classic movies such as Sister Act and Ghost. When Candace came on The View to discuss the lack of diversity at the Academy Awards, Goldberg ended up calling her out once again on her religious views and the nature of her marriage. “Well, you know what, I talk about God – you gotta talk about these damn movies,” Goldberg said. An offended Candace walked off the show.

The following is a clear explanation of what exactly “submissive” means in the context of the Bible: “In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives.” No matter what a secular audience might take from this excerpt, these are the words that Candace adheres to as far as her marriage is concerned.

Despite her troubles with the public, Candace has reiterated in many interviews that her marriage with Valeri is stronger than ever. In an interview with OK! Magazine in 2014, Candace revealed that she has always chosen to block out the negative opinions people have about her marriage. “We’ve gone from loving each other as teenagers to loving each other as adults with teenaged children,” she said. As a result of her ignorance towards the scrutiny, many believe that she just doesn’t know what to say back…

Naturally, Candace has confessed that she has grown to become more apprehensive when it comes to kissing co-workers on-screen. “I’ll be honest, I’m like, I’m kind of over it in the sense that I don’t like that I keep kissing two different men! I’d like to stick with one guy,” she said. “I’m getting more uncomfortable with it the older I’m getting. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to keep doing this!'” Maybe she’s just getting too old and wise for it…

Amazingly, when Candace’s 20th anniversary with Valeri came around, she posted a photo on Instagram and the caption attached to it took a lot of people by surprise! “Let’s be real for a second. We are celebrating 20 years of marriage today,” she wrote. “22 years together as a couple, I couldn’t be more proud to be here and love my man the way I do. But let me assure you it hasn’t been all roses the whole journey.”

That wasn’t the only piece of information that Candace chose to disclose in the Instagram caption. “There have been several tough years, in a row, ups and downs, bad attitudes and bad decisions, but we’ve persevered. We rode them out, we loved each other through them, we kept the focus: God’s glory,” she wrote. “We are both better for it. I’m so grateful and thankful for the man I married. Neither of us are perfect, far from it, and will continue to make mistakes because we are human.”

As a result of her comments on Instagram, many users who read this believed that the couple’s marriage wasn’t so peachy after all. As a result, Candace was forced to defend her words and that she was doing just fine with Valeri. All she meant was that every single marriage is tough and requires a lot of love and effort to make work. “It’s worth it to make it a priority, otherwise, you see how it affects a marriage,” she said.

Not only is she outspoken about her beliefs, but Candace also recently admitted that intimacy has been incredibly important in her marriage. “Friendship is the foundation of marriage, but you also need private time,” she said. “You need that intimacy – not just romantic but also through conversation.” Despite the fact that a lot of her thoughts in recent times have rubbed people up the wrong way, these are opinions on marriage that a lot of people can relate to.

When Joy Behar, the co-host of The View, said that it was a “mental illness” to think that “Jesus talks to you,” Candace was determined to speak up and set things straight. “My initial reaction was that it was a tone-deaf comment, but not a surprising one from someone who isn’t a believer,” she said. Candace continued by saying that “someone who has no concept of the Holy Spirit, I think that is a logical response to them.”

Candace and Valeri have managed to find a lot more quality time to spend together. This is mainly because their kids are now adolescents and young adults, who are hoping to follow in the footsteps of their famous parents. Their eldest daughter wants to be a singer! Now that their kids are pursuing their own dreams, the couple are making up for lost time and now have the opportunities to do things they couldn’t when they were building a family.

Candace revealed that her son Lev gave her a beautifully handwritten note when he turned 18 years old. “Mom! I first just need to say thank you. You have literally put your life down for me,” he wrote. “You helped, encouraged, cared for, loved, worked, and really done everything for me. I would be nowhere near close to where I am today if it wasn’t for you.” It is clear that Candace’s strong code of ethics and principles have rubbed off on her kids.

When Candace and Valeri’s 21st wedding anniversary came around, they decided to go to Pebble Beach and celebrate in style. After getting back from a great day of drinking champagne and horseback riding, Candace kicked back and wrote the following: “I couldn’t be more proud to be here and love my man the way I do.” No matter what you might think of Candace Cameron and Valeri Bure, they have maintained a happy, healthy marriage over the years and will always stay true to both themselves and each other.