Actress and Food Network personality Valerie Bertinelli wants to be a person who is easy
to relate to. She often shares cooking tips and recipes with her fans on her website in a bid to
inspire them, as well as stories of her adventures with chefs, food travel, and more. She has written
in the past that she hopes her website makes her feel like a quote, "trusted friend" to her fans.
However, the chef hasn't always been lucky in terms of meeting like-minded personalities
and has a few unpleasant memories to share. On an episode of Bravo's "Watch What Happens
Live," she recalled meeting an extremely popular singer she greatly admired. Sadly,
things didn't go well when they bumped into each other, and Bertinelli was thoroughly let down by
the incident. For her, the encounter drastically changed her opinion of the famous singer.
As she revealed for "Watch What Happens Live" host Andy Cohen, Valerie Bertinelli was psyched to meet
singer Christina Aguilera at a concert that her ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, played years ago.
"I went up to her 'cause she was at a Van Halen concert, and I said, 'Oh my god,
I think you're a beautiful singer,' buh buh buh. And she just like went, 'Yeah, whatever.'"
Bertinelli didn't feel too great about this interaction for obvious reasons.
She struggled to figure out why Aguilera chose not to be kind to a fan.
Interestingly, Bertinelli has mentioned the incident more than once in interviews.
A couple of days after she spoke about it in 2014, Aguilera seemed to indirectly shoot back
with her own response. Rather than commenting in a straightforward way, Aguilera put up a photo on
Twitter of her recording equipment with a hat on top and wrote, "In more important news..."
However, this isn't the first time that someone has called out Aguilera for being rude.
According to SheKnows, several celebrities, such as Avril Lavigne and Mariah Carey,
have noticed this behavior as well and mentioned it in interviews. Actor Daniel Franzese was
particularly upset with the singer, which he further explained in an interview with Yahoo!.
"It's actually funny because I met Christina Aguilera and
I thought for sure that would be an exciting moment in my life."
According to Franzese, Aguilera dismissed him and walked away,
despite his legendary rendition of her song "Beautiful" in "Mean Girls."
What makes Bertinelli’s interaction with Christina Aguilera all the more disheartening
is that the Food Network host is someone who truly values friendship. She has used her website's blog
to share stories about the challenges of making meaningful connections later in life. Bertinelli
also values long-term bonds in her own life. For example, she stayed close friends with rock legend
Eddie Van Halen even after they divorced, and she once devoted an entire episode of her Food Network
show to preparing a meal for three of her friends in celebration of their 20 years of friendship.
Another quality that makes Bertinelli distinctive is that she's not afraid to
talk about what's bothering her. Whether it's the fact that Christina Aguilera was
rude to her or that she's had to deal with online trolls who have mercilessly attacked
her in the past, the TV personality has chosen to take everything in stride. She spoke up about the
struggles she's faced online in an emotional Instagram video, explaining that strangers
have been inconsiderate and have commented on her weight thinking they might be trying to help her.
"You're not being helpful.”
Other celebrities reached out in support, including "The Pioneer Woman," Ree Drummond,
who called her fellow Food Network star inspiring and encouraging. Singer Demi Lovato,
who has dealt with her own trolls in the past,
also posted in support of Bertinelli. She told the actress and host, quote, "You're already enough."
Even singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson, who stepped in to serve as a judge on "The Voice"
in the years after Aguilera's departure, came to Bertinelli's defense on Twitter.
Though Bertinelli has definitely had
some unpleasant encounters with other celebrities in the past,
there are clearly a lot of stars who are willing to come to her defense when she is struggling.
That says something about the impact she's made throughout her years in the entertainment world.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Mashed videos about your favorite food stars are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.