Candice King Reveals Why Watching ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Is ‘Off Limits’ for Her 9-Year-Old

Candice King is slowly earning cool points with her daughters for her career — but for now, watching her on The Vampire Diaries is a no-go.

While King, 38, revealed that “nothing will top” her time as Caroline Forbes on The CW series, she confessed it’s not a show she wants her 9-year-old daughter, Florence, watching just yet.

“She really wants to watch it,” King said during the Thursday, June 19, episode of “The Viall Files” podcast, noting, “I’ve tried to explain it to her, you know, it’s a little scary, but also Mommy kisses a lot of boys.”

The actress recalled her daughter saying, “It’s not like you’re in your bra and underwear or something,” so she had to explain that actually was part of her role.

“I’m like, ‘Well, Mommy’s in her bra and underwear, but it’s different because I was in the room with a lot of people. I was being paid,’” King said before realizing how that sounded. “I was like, ‘No, no, no. That’s not the lesson here.’”

Ultimately the TV star revealed, “Mommy’s not ready to handle this, so we’re not going to watch it yet. So, it’s off the table.” (Candice shares Florence and daughter Josephine, 4, with ex-husband Joe King.)

Candice told hosts Nick Viall and Natalie Joy that she was in fact in her bra for the majority of the first season, which she filmed when she was 21. “That first season, I just remember, was hard on my dad. My parents didn’t understand,” she confessed.

Candice played teenager-turned-vampire Caroline on The Vampire Diaries from 2009 to 2017. The series centered on teen Elena Gilbert’s (Nina Dobrev) life in Mystic Falls, Virginia, as she fell in love with two vampire brothers, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder).

Candice, whose character, Caroline, was a high school friend of Elena’s, later reprised the role on the spinoff The Originals in 2018.

While Candice isn’t prepared to explain why she was scantily dressed on TVD, she has been excited to see her eldest daughter see her on screen thanks to her past connection to Miley Cyrus.

Before she became an actress, Candice was a musician who toured as a backup singer for Cyrus, 32. “I got to do my thing. I got to do a stadium tour,” she recalled of the experience. “I was 19 years old traveling on a tour bus for a year.”

The We Were Liars star noted that Florence “thinks it’s cool now” that she’s famous because she started to watch Hannah Montana and its subsequent movie, where she made a cameo.

“I’m in the end of the movie for, like, a minute as one of the backup singers. So, she thought that was cool,” Candice shared. “She got to see the [Miley Cyrus] Best of Both Worlds [Concert] movie, and I’m in that as well.”