‘Fuller House’ Star Andrea Barber Reveals This ’80s Boy Band Helped Get Her Through Difficult Divorce

Fuller House star Andrea Barber says her love for a boy band helped get her through her 2014 divorce. The 43-year-old actress, who plays Kimmy Gibbler on the Full House spinoff, said a New Kids on the Block concert was the turning point for her as she battled depression following her breakup with ex-husband Jeremy Rytky.

Barber, who recently penned her memoir, Full Circle: From Hollywood to Real Life and Back Again, told Us Weekly that “the divorce chapter” of her book was the hardest chapter to write. The mom of two revealed that while she sought therapy and advice from friends at the end of her 12-year relationship, it was her childhood teen idols who really helped her out of her post-divorce funk.

Admitting that she was “a little embarrassed” to write about it in her book, Barber explained how the “Hangin’ Tough” singers — Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood — helped her through her tough times.

“Yes, New Kids on the Block helped me through my divorce,” Barber told Us. “I went to their festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which was outdoors, and it started raining in the middle of the concert, and we were all just drenched. They were passing out ponchos, but the ponchos did nothing. It was a complete downpour. And I just remember looking up at them on the stage, my hair was soaked, and I was just beaming and screaming and laughing and singing and I just thought, ‘Oh, I feel so free.'”

On Instagram, fans thanked Barber for sharing how she overcame the most difficult year of her life. Others shared stories of their own experiences with depression and divorce.

While Barber credits the New Kids on the Block for helping her have a post-divorce breakthrough, longtime fans of the actress may not be surprised that the popular boy band was part of her journey.

Fuller House fans may recall that in Season 2 of the Netflix series, a lifelong dream came true for Barber and her co-star Candace Cameron Bure when the New Kids on the Block made a cameo on the show. Barber and her co-star even got to sing and dance with the band.

At the time, Barber told E! News the cast had been wanting New Kids on the Block on the show for 30 years.

“Seeing the New Kids on the Block in the living room on the Fuller House couch blew my mind,” Barner said.

Barber recently sat for the final table read with her Fuller House co-stars. The sitcom’s fifth and final season is coming soon to Netflix.