It wasn't long ago that Valerie Bertinelli was thinking, "I was supposed to die with six cats and one dog and very happily live the rest of my years alone-I'm good alone." But all that changed when an online friendship with an East Coast writer turned romantic. On a recent spring afternoon at her home in the hills of Los Angeles, Bertinelli is beaming.
"I am in love," she says. "It's still so new. I'm not ready to share his name publicly. But it is unlike any connection I've ever felt. Mature, kind, thoughtful, patient. I'm glad it's happening. But it's like, what the heck is happening? It's a seesaw of emotions. My belly is flip-flopping. This was not supposed to happen."
Before Bertinelli, 63, could let love in, she had to learn to love herself. "I want to be very clear that this process has taken a long time," says the TV star. She confronted her body-image issues-which began when she was a teen-during her 2022 divorce from her second husband, Tom Vitale, after 11 years of marriage. "We became very unkind to one another, and that's not a way to live in a marriage," she says. "That was just the breaking point for me, where I finally decided I've had enough. I was continuing to tolerate intolerable things, starting with my own words in my own head."
Denne historien er fra April 15, 2024-utgaven av People US.
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Denne historien er fra April 15, 2024-utgaven av People US.
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ACTOR ADAM PEARSON I Don't Think 'Why Me?" I Think 'Why Not Me
THE A DIFFERENT MAN STAR, WHO LIVES WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, IS CHALLENGING HOLLYWOOD TO REFRAME DISABILITY
WHAT I KNOW NOW
NOW STARRING IN REBEL RIDGE, THE ACTOR GETS CANDID ABOUT CAREER LONGEVITY (54 YEARS IN THE BIZ!), FATHERHOOD AND SURVIVING LIFE AS AN '80S HEARTTHROB
STOUGHTON OR MURDER?
SHE WAS 23 AND EXCITEDLY EXPECTING HER FIRST CHILD WHEN SHE APPEARED TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE. NOW AUTHORITIES SUSPECT FOUL PLAY BY HER MARRIED POLICE OFFICER BOYFRIEND
JAMES MIDDLETON From Despair to Hope
IN AN EMOTIONAL NEW MEMOIR, PRINCESS KATE'S YOUNGER BROTHER OPENS UP ABOUT HIS STRUGGLE WITH DEPRESSION, LIFE WITHIN THE ROYAL ORBIT AND HOW HIS BELOVED DOG ELLA SAVED HIS LIFE
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY TAPPING HIS INNER CHILD
FROM PLAYING WITH ROBOTS AS A KID TO VOICING BUMBLEBEE IN TRANSFORMERS ONE, THE KEY & PEELE ALUM LOVES LETTING HIS IMAGINATION RUN WILD
Ina Garten I Learned to Believe in Myself"
IN A REVEALING NEW MEMOIR, THE CELEBRITY CHEF OPENS UP ABOUT ABUSE BY HER PARENTS AND A ROCKY PERIOD IN HER MARRIAGE TO HUSBAND JEFFREY: 'DEBILITATING FEAR TAUGHT ME ENORMOUS COMPASSION'
finding peace after loss
THE NASHVILLE ACTRESS'S YOUNGER BROTHER DIED UNEXPECTEDLY JUST AS SHE WAS WORKING TO OVERCOME DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. HOW SHE'S PICKING UP THE PIECES, STAYING SOBER AND DOING HER BEST TO LOOK FORWARD
The Substance
Demi Moore is scarily good as an actress who drinks at the wrong fountain of youth
Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 Dies at 70
A founding member of the iconic group, he last performed on Sept. 8
HALLMARK STAR ASHLEY WILLIAMS Honoring Her Mom On & Off Screen
Ashley Williams's new movie Falling Together didn't start as an homage to her mother, Linda, who died from dementia in 2016; it began with a failed apartment building-wide chili party she threw years ago.
