Valerie Bertinelli just celebrated six months sober with her equally sober boyfriend, Hoarse Whisperings blogger Mike Goodnough.
The 64-year-old former Food Network star, who has 4.1 million followers on social media, publicly announced her milestone on Monday after deleting her entire Instagram account.
Valerie’s 53-year-old silver fox commented on her post: “Funny how we both randomly decided to stop drinking just weeks before we met.”
Bertinelli, who lives in Los Angeles, originally met Mike through Instagram before chatting over the phone and eventually meeting in person for the first time in his home state of New York.
“He’s very special. He treats me with so much respect, so much kindness, and so much patience, and I really want to show him that, but it’s so hard. He’s amazing. He’s a good man. He’s an incredibly talented writer. I love absorbing his words, he’s so talented. He’s a god to me. I think I said too much!” the Indulge cookbook author said on the May 13 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show.
Valerie Bertinelli just celebrated six months sober with her equally sober boyfriend, Hoarse Whisperings blogger Mike Goodnough (photo June 8)
“You know when you’re happy and you just want to share it with the whole world? Yeah, that’s me now. I’m not jumping on any chairs or couches or anything (like Tom Cruise did in 2005). It’s totally surprising and I wasn’t expecting it.
‘I’ve said a million times over the last two years that I’m getting better: I’m more than happy to be lucky enough to live my life with my cats and my dog. I’m doing great on my own. I like being alone. I’m starting to like myself, which has been a long process. Most of the time I like myself, so I don’t need that in my life. But when push comes to shove, you just go, “Well, I guess I’m going to do this.”
Valerie’s mention of the ‘last two years of healing’ was a direct reference to her 2022 divorce from her ex-husband No. 2, Tom Vitale, with whom paid $2.2 million in divorce settlement after bitterly ending their decade-long marriage.
Bertinelli also suffered the loss of her amicable ex-husband of 20 years, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, in 2020, with whom she shared a 33-year-old son, Wolfgang Van Halen.
The two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner also received congratulatory comments for her post about her sobriety from former talk show host Rosie O’Donnell, The Matrix alum Joe Pantoliano, Desperately Seeking alum Susan Rosanna Arquette and The Color Purple alum Rae Dawn Chung.
On Tuesday, Valerie reflected on the idea of “eating or drinking to numb/avoid pain” in order to avoid “developing the tools that make us feel safe in an unsafe world.”
“Maybe if you remove those tools that numb you, you start avoiding feelings altogether because they’re too painful. You disengage, you isolate yourself,” Bertinelli said. wrote.
“When we don’t allow ourselves to feel the pain, we can’t allow ourselves to get to the other side, where we can feel the joy. It’s too scary to feel the pain. What if that joy isn’t on the other side? How am I supposed to trust that?”
The 64-year-old former Food Network star, who boasts 4.1 million followers on social media, publicly announced her milestone on Monday after deleting her entire Instagram account.
Valerie’s 53-year-old silver fox commented on her post: ‘Funny how we both randomly decided to stop drinking just weeks before we met.’
Bertinelli, who lives in Los Angeles, originally met Mike through Instagram before chatting over the phone and eventually meeting in person for the first time in his home state of New York (photo dated June 7).
The Indulge cookbook author gushed on the May 13 episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show: “He’s amazing. He’s a good man. He’s an incredibly talented writer. I love absorbing his words, he’s so talented. He’s a god to me.”
She continued: ‘I’ve said this a million times as I’ve been recovering over the past two years: I’m beyond happy to be blessed to live my life with my cats and my dog. I’m doing great on my own. I like being alone. I’m really starting to like myself, which has been a long process. Most of the time I like myself, so I don’t need that in my life. But when push comes to shove, you’re just like, “Okay, I guess I’m going to do this.” (Photo from June 2)
Valerie’s mention of the “last two years of healing” was a direct reference to her 2022 divorce from ex-husband No. 2 Tom Vitale (L, pictured in 2014), to whom she paid a $2.2 million divorce settlement after acrimoniously ending their decade-long marriage.
Bertinelli also suffered the loss of her amicable ex-husband of 20 years, legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen (right), in 2020, with whom she shared a 33-year-old son, Wolfgang Van Halen (center).
The two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner also received congratulatory comments for her post about sobriety from Rosie O’Donnell, Joe Pantoliano, Rosanna Arquette and Rae Dawn Chung.
On Tuesday, Valerie reflected on the idea of “eating or drinking to numb/avoid pain” in order to avoid “developing the tools that make us feel safe in an unsafe world” (photo from May 30).
“I think there’s always joy and relief on the other side. At some point, we just have to slay that dragon and trust that joy will find us there because the way we’ve been doing it isn’t working anymore.”
The One Day at a Time alum, whose comedy pilot Hungry was not picked up by NBC, will next have a voice role in Disney Junior’s 2025 animated series Robogobo, alongside Cynthia Erivo, Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer and Alison Pill.
Valerie has not had any acting work since concluding her role as divorced writer Melanie Moretti on Suzanne Martin’s comedy Hot in Cleveland, which ran for six seasons on TV Land from 2010 to 2015.
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