Valerie Bertinelli Lost Weight & One Dress Size And Admits She Feels ‘Better’ After Divorce Set Her Free

Aug 18, 2023

Valerie Bertinelli has always lived under the spotlight. She found herself in the limelight when she played Barbara Cooper in the sitcom “One Day at a Time.” Bertinelli was just 15 when the show premiered in 1975, but it set the stage for what was to come in her life for a long time. She played her role so well that she won two Golden Globe Awards for her performance. The young actress appeared in 208 of the 209 episodes of the nine-season TV series and remains a fan favorite. 

After that, the Delaware native was on “Fridays” and two short-lived series – “Sydney” as the eponymous character and “Café Americain.” She recorded great success, particularly with “Touched by an Angel” and “Hot in Cleveland,” which ended in 2015. Bertinelli is also renowned for her cooking series, “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” for which she won two Daytime Emmy Awards. 

Although Bertinelli has an unavoidable relationship with food due to the nature of her work, she struggled with it for a long time. The TV personality first embarked on the Jenny Craig program in 2007 to share her experience with the latter’s diet plan. She also released a memoir in 2008 that detailed her experience with the diet program, which she followed with another book in 2009. However, in 2022, the media personality became weary and started loving her body. She released another memoir in January 2022 titled, “Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today.”

On June 10, 2023, Bertinelli shared a video with fans in which she looked hot and had lost some weight. She explained how she started to care for herself and lost the weight she used for protection. Continue reading to get the details of her post.

Although Bertinelli grew up being told she was beautiful, she didn’t believe it for herself because of the kind of mentality that she acquired from watching her dad berate her mom for gaining weight. After a teacher poked her belly, she became overly conscious of becoming fat.

She shared in her memoir, “Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today,” that despite appearing as the “upbeat, bubbly All-American girl,” she faced pressure in private as she would often compare herself to her on-screen sister in “One Day at a Time,” Mackenzie Phillips. The “Sydney” star shared that those situations made her believe that fat people were unlovable.

As an adult, Bertinelli started unlearning the toxic narrative she formed as a child. Although it wasn’t easy, she was determined to love herself and her body. The actress gained confidence when she finalized her divorce in 2022, an event she celebrated in a Twitter clip on Nov. 23, 2022.

“11.22.22 second best day of my life,” she captioned the tweet revealing her divorce. 

“My lawyer just called. The papers are all signed. They’re about to be filed. On 11/22/22, I am officially f***ing divorced. Happily divorced. God. Finally. It’s finally over. Yes!” the former teen actress cheered.

The court ordered her to pay her ex, Tom Vitale, $2.2 million while her ex was to move out of her Malibu home by Dec. 31, 2022, to receive the payment. However, Vitale would be able to stay rent-free if Bertinelli failed to pay the amount around that time. Meanwhile, if he chose to live with her after she paid him, he would have to pay her $50,000 in rent every month.

Nine months after finalizing her divorce from Vitale, Bertinelli shared an update with fans in a video on June 10, 2023. In the clip, which showed her looking beautiful and slimmer as she walked her dog, the cooking enthusiast told followers:

“So it’s getting about time for me to probably go down another jean size. I can’t believe it. And this all started in November, the month I got free,” she said, referring to her divorce. 

Bertinelli added that she started focusing on her mental health in November 2022, which made her care about the food she fed her body. She revealed that she believed her spouse’s negative words about her because she thought the same thing about herself. 

“Through therapy, journaling, meditation, and slew of things you’ve watched me talk about on my feed the past year, I started to care about myself more and care how I treated myself more which led me to also care about the nutrition I put into my body,” the TV personality shared. 

“Caring not so much about calories but what are in those calories? Am I getting enough fiber? Am I getting enough protein? Am I getting enough vitamins, naturally, in my food? Am I drinking too much? What makes me feel better. What makes my body feel better? Keyword, FEEL better.”

She then affirmed: 

“I’m really starting to love myself. Deep down.” 

The author disclosed in one of her Instagram posts on Feb. 4, 2023, that a fan’s message helped her reflect and identify one of the roots of her problem and, consequently, find healing. The question which she posted as a caption read:

"'What made you tolerate the intolerable? 🚩 One of the most powerful questions I’ve been asked in a while. Thank you! 💕."

Bertinelli’s newfound confidence and fitter physique delight her teeming fans, who hope she continues in that light and stays happy. 

What do you think of Valerie Bertinelli’s posts? Do you agree that the scales don’t matter and you should love yourself? Let us know, and be sure to pass this on to friends, family and fans of Valerie Bertinelli.