It’s been a rocky road for beloved television star Valerie Bertinelli.
Since catapulting to fame in the wildly popular sitcom One Day at a Time in the mid-70s, the 65-year-old actress has faced numerous struggles both professional and personal.
Bertinelli hasn’t shied away from speaking about her trials and tribulations.
Recently, the mother-of-one shared how she was left devastated after she was once fired from a job because of her weight.
From two failed marriages to being sensationally pushed out of the Food Network, Daily Mail looks at how Bertinelli has managed to navigate through some of the most difficult and painful experiences life has thrown at her.
Bertinell’s turbulent love life
Bertinelli has had a tumultuous love life with two divorces under her belt.
The TV star was just 20 when she married 27-year-old rock star guitarist Eddie Van Halen in 1981.
While they were very much in love at the beginning, Van Halen’s use of drugs and alcohol and his infidelity took the bloom off the rose.
During an appearance on Literally! With Rob Lowe in 2022, Bertinelli joked that Van Halen’s band ‘weren’t interested in eating, that’s for sure.’
‘Well, I am a prude now but I partaked as well for a few years until I just couldn’t take it anymore,’ she said.
‘Cocaine was everywhere, everywhere, and easy to get.’
Bertinelli was first married to guitarist Eddie Van Halen (pictured in 1985)
Together the pair welcomed son Wolfgan in 1991 (pictured together) before his death in 2020
Reflecting on their marriage, Bertinelli said it devolved into ‘nothing that makes you feel loved and wanted and cared for. Nothing that would scream soulmate, that’s for sure.’
The couple welcomed son Wolfgang, a musician and multi-instrumentalist, in 1991 before eventually splitting in 2007.
Van Halen died of a stroke in October 2020 aged 65. Following his death, Bertinelli admitted her perspective on their years together changed.
‘I was more than willing to put myself in the grieving widow category for a man that I hadn’t lived with for 20 years,’ she said while tearing up in a video shared on Instagram in 2024.
‘What we had together was this beautiful son that we both unconditionally loved,’ she continued.
Bertinelli’s second marriage was to financial planner Tom Vitale.
Bertinelli went on to marry Tom Vitale in 2011 before filing for divorce in 2021
The television star gave a tearful interview on the Today show in the aftermath of their split where she declared she would be ‘happily divorced’
The pair were married from 2011 until she filed for legal separation 10 years later in 2021 citing ‘irreconcilable differences.’
Following their estrangement, Bertinelli tearfully declared during a live appearance on the Today show that she was left with ‘some trust issues.’
‘I am gonna be more than happy to be happily divorced and spend the rest of my life alone,’ she said.
Upon being asked if she would ever look for love again, the star answered, ‘Oh God, no.’
When the divorce was finalized in November 2022, Bertinelli celebrated on social media.
‘I am officially f**king divorced!’ she tweeted alongside a short video in which she spun around to Taylor Swift’s song Clean.
More recently, Bertinelli split from her boyfriend Mike Goodnough in November 2024 after 10 months of dating.
Bertinelli’s most recent relationship was with author Mike Goodnough
The TV star had met her ex on social media, and they had a long-distance relationship.
Before they parted ways, Bertinelli opened up about the ‘challenging’ nature of long-distance.
She later said she had ‘fumbled the last good man.’
Bertinelli’s exit from the Food Network
Bertinelli had co-hosted Food Network competition show Kids’ Baking Championship with Duff Goldman since its inception in 2015.
However, her time at the network came to a dramatic end when she was cut from the series in January 2024 due to budget cuts.
At the time, her manager confirmed the news in a statement that said: ‘Her deal expired, they opted not to renew it.
Bertinelli co-hosted Kids’ Baking Championship with Duff Goldman on the Food Network
Her contract wasn’t renewed in January 2024 and was eventually replaced by Kardea Brown
‘They could have come to me with an offer just for Kids. They never did. Simple as that.’
Bertinelli last appeared on Kids’ Baking Championship’s 12th season and was later replaced by Kardea Brown.
Despite not being asked to return, Bertinelli looks back at her time on the program with fondness.
‘Without sounding like a drama queen, the show saved my life,’ she said in an Instagram video.
‘Just working with all of those really wonderful people and feeling productive and knowing I could spread some kindness and not just wallow in my hell and just try to keep my head above water.
‘It helped me; it was like a flotation device.’
Bertinelli fired over her weight gain
Bertinelli’s job with the Food Network is not the only time she’s been let go in a professional setting.
Earlier this month, the actress fought back tears as she claimed she was fired as a spokesperson for a diet company after gaining weight.
Sharing details of the alleged incident, which happened around the time she was honored at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012, she admitted she felt ‘so horrified.’
Prior to the ceremony, Bertinelli was the face of an unnamed diet company where she documented her weight loss journey.
‘I had started a diet program and then became their spokesperson in 2007 and I had lost 50 pounds,’ she said during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.
‘And then life started to get the better of me, and I wasn’t taking care of my mental and emotional health, so the weight started to come back on.
‘And this was the last year, I believe, that I was with this diet company.’
Bertinelli claimed she was fired as a spokesperson for a diet company after gaining weight
She recalled climbing from a size 4 to a size 12 at the time of her Hollywood Walk of Fame Ceremony in 2012
Bertinelli claimed she was fired because of her weight gain and that at the time of the ceremony she was a size 12.
‘I remember thinking, “But size 12 is not that big!” she continued.
‘But I had gotten down to a size 4, which was way too small for me and impossible for me to maintain.’
Bertinelli noted that her weight has always yo-yoed and that she is currently a size 10 now.’
‘I would’ve been horrified then being on the diet program being a size 10,’ she said. ‘But right now, it’s about my mental and emotional health.’
Visibly overcome with emotion, Bertinelli said that her weight does not define her.
‘I’m so strong and firm in who I am and, no matter what people throw at me, I know who I am and I know what kind of person I am and it doesn’t matter how much I weigh,’ she added.
Bertinelli still owns the white dress from her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
‘It fits me just fine,’ she said.
She added to applause from the audience: ‘It’s a little less snug than it is there, but I just, if anything, it doesn’t matter what size we are.’
‘What is our heart? How do we treat people? Period!’
Bertinelli’s mental and physical health ordeals
Bertinelli has been open with her mental health struggles too, and in 2024 revealed her history with anxiety.
In an extremely vulnerable upload, the actress shared a video of her hand trembling in the aftermath of a panic attack.
To calm herself down, Bertinelli meditated and did EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy).
Explaining how she copes, Bertinelli shared that she ‘almost disassociates’ and is focused ‘solely on calming down and finding any road to a more relaxed and peaceful body.’
Besides her anxiety, Bertinelli has spoken candidly about her experiences with menopause.
In 2024, The Drew Barrymore Show presenter revealed how her perimenopause and menopause symptoms lasted between 10 and 12 years and included brain fog and hot flushes.
‘The hot flashes? I totally got,’ she said. ‘The brain fog, I would get on Hot in Cleveland… trying to memorize lines, all of the best bloopers are because Valerie was going through brain fog.’
She added that the aftermath had been just as difficult and described the years that followed as the most ‘challenging, difficult, heartbreaking years of my life.’
