How did Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli respond when internet trolls tried to fat
shame her?
And what did she learn from her romance with rock god Eddie Van Halen?
Keep watching to find out!
Valerie Bertinelli was born on April 23, 1960, in Wilmington, Delaware, to Nancy and Andrew
Bertinelli.
She didn't find out until she was a teenager that she had had an older brother named Mark
who died at just 17 months old before she was born.
She told People,
"When I came into the world, my mom was grieving.
He died in the most horrible way.
They were visiting a friends' farm, and he wandered off unsupervised and drank poison
out of a bottle that wasn't supposed to have poison in it.
It was a soda pop bottle."
Bertinelli grew up surrounded by an extended family that shaped her love of cooking.
She told The Food Network that she learned from both her mother, and her Italian grandmother.
"I [remember] sitting on the stool watching my nonni roll out gnocchi, cappelletti, and
fry bread.
[...] And my mom, our cute little kitchen was her office; She just did three meals a
day, no microwave, using fresh, fresh ingredients.
But I think they had a passion for it too.
And I learned from them.
And now I have a passion for it, too."
Before Valerie Bertinelli charmed television audiences with her mouthwatering dishes on
the Food Network, this celebrity chef stepped into the spotlight in the hit sitcom "One
Day at a Time."
Bertinelli was only 15 years old when the show premiered in 1975, and she captured America's
hearts in her star turn as funny Barbara Cooper.
After "One Day at a Time" ended, she went on to star on the hit 1994 show "Touched by
an Angel," a drama series about angels helping people in need that ran for nine seasons.
And she also headlined the Emmy Award-winning sitcom series "Hot in Cleveland," which also
featured Betty White.
The show premiered in 2010 and ran for six seasons, concluding in 2015.
When she was just 20 years old, America's sweetheart fell hard for bad-boy guitarist
Eddie Van Halen.
As she revealed to Oprah, the pair met backstage on August 28, 1980, after a Van Halen show.
But Bertinelli was drawn to Van Halen even before they met.
"I took a look at the 8-track cassette that was in the back of my Corvette [...] and I
saw a picture of him, and I went, 'Oh, yeah, I'll be going.
He's a cutie.'"
Bertinelli instantly fell in love with the musician.
"You had to peel me off the floor," she said.
Apparently, Van Halen felt the same because three days later he asked Bertinelli out,
and the two were married eight months later.
Despite their fairytale meeting, Bertinelli's marriage to Van Halen wasn't a storybook romance.
Bertinelli struggled to keep pace with her husband's rock star exploits filled with cocaine
use and all-night partying, especially while she was working full-time taping "One Day
at a Time."
She told Oprah,
"He had his responsibilities of what he had to do, and I had my responsibilities.
And we thought if you just live in the same house there would be a connection, but no."
After growing apart, both Bertinelli and Van Halen committed multiple infidelities.
Bertinelli told OK! that fans accused her of breaking up the band Van Halen.
Even though their personal demons weighed on the marriage, they had a child, Wolfgang,
and stayed together until separating in 2001.
She told Oprah,
"One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what
two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like.
Ed and I weren't treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that's
what Wolfie was seeing."
Bertinelli fell for financial planner Tom Vitale in 2004 after her brother Patrick introduced
them.
They both had developed trust issues in the wake of their respective divorces, but they
were able to find common ground over their similar backgrounds: Bertinelli has Italian
roots, while Vitale is Italian-Sicilian.
Vitale told AARP,
"We just understood each other completely.
My family is her family.
It wasn't love at first sight; it was family at first sight."
Another thing they had in common is their love for food.
Bertinelli told Parade that her second husband was, quote, "very inventive in the kitchen."
One of his most creative innovations, espresso-rubbed ribeye, impressed the seasoned chef so much
that she included the recipe in one of her cookbooks.
They got married on New Year's Day in 2011, but sadly, Bertinelli announced in November,
2021 that they had filed for legal separation.
And it seems that two marriages is enough for her.
"Are we open for new love?"
"NO!
Nope.
I will never get married again, I can tell you that."
In March of 1991, Valerie Bertinelli gave
birth to her son Wolfgang Van Halen, whom she affectionately calls "Wolfie."
Wolfgang has followed in his father's footsteps as a rocker, earning a Grammy nomination in
2022 under his performing name Mammoth WVH.
"He is so talented, and um, crazy talented.
He played every instrument, he wrote every song, he sang every note.
And then to be nominated for best rock song!"
The two are quite close, as indicated by Bertinelli's Instagram handle, @wolfiesmom.
That's not much of a surprise considering he is her only son.
When asked what her son means to her, Bertinelli told Today, quote, "That I know how to do
something right."
It was particularly hard for them when they were separated during quarantine lockdown.
When they were able to reunite, Bertinelli didn't hold back, telling TODAY,
"I wouldn't let him get out of the hug.
It was just so nice — so nice to hug my son again."
Once Bertinelli left acting behind to launch her career as a celebrity chef in 2015, the
Golden Globe winner wowed television audiences with her Food Network shows, including "Valerie's
Home Cooking" and "Kids Baking Championship."
But in 2021, she revealed that she may be returning to sitcoms with the show "Hungry,"
where she is set to play Lisa, the mother of Demi Lovato's character, Teddy.
"Hungry" has yet to be picked up by a network, but Bertinelli told the New York Post that
while she's excited about the prospect of acting again, one thing she won't do is another
drama like "Touched by an Angel."
"I wouldn't do a one-hour drama — that takes up too much of your time, and my first baby
is my cooking show — but I would do a four-camera sitcom in a heartbeat.
I love it.
I come alive in something like that.
The whole process of doing 'Hot in Cleveland' and 'One Day at a Time' was that it was so
much fun being around a live audience and being able to make people laugh — right
there on the spot."
As her hit Foot Network shows "Valerie's Home Cooking" and "Kids Baking Championship" would
suggest, food is an important part of Bertinelli's life.
But the Golden Globe winner's struggles with body confidence complicated her relationship
with food.
According to Today, Bertinelli once said,
"The very first time I became really aware of my body, I remember my fifth-grade teacher
patted me on the belly and said, 'You might want to keep an eye on that.'"
Hollywood stardom at the age of 15 only augmented her self-image concerns.
Although the actress said she never starved herself to lose weight, she admitted in an
Oprah interview to taking weight loss pills.
Other challenges down the road, such as her divorce from Eddie Van Halen, had her rely
on food as a coping mechanism.
She said,
"Those were some of the darkest days of my life, and I was eating my way through them.
I became a hermit."
Determined to improve her self-confidence, Bertinelli became a Jenny Craig spokesperson,
losing nearly 50 pounds in the process.
But she has since admitted she isn't proud of her Jenny Craig experience and rejects,
quote, "diet culture."
She said,
"I have been buying into the diet industry my whole life and then I became part of the
problem, so here I am today receiving the karma of my actions."
"No matter how low that number on the scale would get, it was never quite low enough to
keep me safe."
Over the years, Bertinelli has worked hard to balance her lifelong struggle with body
confidence alongside her career in the food industry.
In addition to being transparent with the media and her fans about her self-esteem,
the celebrity chef has begun to work on changing her relationship to food.
She told Good Housekeeping,
"I had to realize that food wasn't the enemy.
And I used to think of food as the enemy no matter what it was.
[...] Food isn't the enemy, it's the way I have abused it in my life by eating the wrong
things, eating emotionally, or eating unconsciously."
She went on to explain that it's an ongoing process.
"I'm [still] trying to figure out, then, where does my body fit into this?
Even at 60, I'm still trying to figure out what my body likes and what it doesn't like,
but I have to stay conscious when I eat.
And that's not always what I do.
[...] But that's the path I'm on right now."
Part of Bertinelli's enduring popularity is her openness with fans.
Whether she's sharing her emotional journey with weight loss and self-acceptance, or mourning
the death of her ex-husband Eddie Van Halen, or opening up about her new separation from
second husband Tom Vitale, she doesn't hesitate to share her opinions.
For example, Bertinelli is outspoken about fatphobia and body shaming, especially when
it comes to internet trolls.
When she was body-shamed online, the award-winning actress shared a vulnerable video response
about her body struggles.
Similarly, when a Twitter troll called her "chubby," Bertinelli whipped out the classiest
comeback ever.
"Wow.
Someone is always there to remind me to tidy up my negative thoughts some more.
Thank you for reminding me I'm so much more than my body.
Have a blessed day."
Unsurprisingly, Bertinelli also has strong opinions when it comes to food, including
a divisive brand of candy.
The celebrity chef recently sung the praises of Almond Joy via Twitter, writing,
"How in the world do you hate an Almond Joy?
It is a macaroon and an almond covered in chocolate."
Finally, Bertinelli has some choice words for the network behind the cancellation of
the now-defunct sitcom "Hot in Cleveland."
According to her, canceling the hit comedy series was, quote, "the stupidest thing they
ever did."
As if the multitalented actress and chef's résumé wasn't impressive enough already,
it turns out Bertinelli has a way with words, too.
Given her infamously candid personality, it was only natural that her first book to hit
stores was a tell-all memoir called "Losing It."
Published in 2008, the book meditates on Bertinelli's personal struggles with weight loss, drug
use, and her volatile relationship with Eddie Van Halen.
Her first book's success — it spent eight weeks atop The New York Times bestseller list
— led to a follow-up the next year.
In "Finding It," she dove deep into serious topics like blended parenting with her then-husband
Tom Vitale, her maternal anxieties, and spirituality.
In 2012, Bertinelli shared more than 100 Italian recipes from her childhood in her first cookbook
"One Dish at a Time," named after the sitcom that skyrocketed her to fame.
Her second cookbook "Valerie's Home Cooking," named after her hit cooking show on the Food
Network, was published in 2017.
And her third memoir hit bookshelves on January 18, 2022.
"Enough Already" focuses on Bertinelli's life during her 50s and 60s, as well as the triumph
of self-love over the pursuit of perfection.
On Instagram, she expressed the hope that her book can help readers, quote, "not feel
so alone with the struggles [they're] going through."
Speaking of Instagram, Bertinelli's natural candor and bubbly personality dovetails perfectly
with social media.
On Instagram, the multitalented star knows just how to connect with fans in personable
ways.
For example, her account is decorated with numerous photos of her adorable pets.
In one particularly popular post, she showed off a throwback video of her cat Batman when
he was a kitten.
She wrote in the caption,
"OMG!
Feels like yesterday!
My babyyyyy ..."
Of course, her Instagram is also replete with mouthwatering photos and videos of freshly
cooked meals and baked cookies.
One post in particular had followers salivating: her Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies.
She wrote,
"The trick to these warm treats are the chopped caramel bits melting into the semi-sweet chocolate
chips topped by flakey sea salt."
Some of Bertinelli's best posts are her throwbacks, and one notable example racked up over 50,000
likes.
Bertinelli shared an endearing photo of herself cooking at a young age, seemingly done with
the whole thing.
Luckily for everyone, she wasn't done with cooking.
We can't wait to see what she comes up with next!
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