Valerie Bertinelli is 'proud' of her body after '64 years of gravity'
Valerie Bertinelli addressed the response she's gotten after she stripped down to her underwear and uploaded a mirror selfie to Instagram.
Valerie Bertinelli is as proud as ever after stripping down to her underwear and uploading a mirror selfie to Instagram.
Bertinelli was a guest on "The Drew Barrymore Show" Friday and addressed her viral post that she uploaded earlier this month.
Barrymore's co-host, Ross Matthews, asked Bertinelli why she decided to upload the risqué photo.
"Well, you know what, I have been coming to terms with my body now, aging, and I saw myself in the light. And I went, ‘Oh I'm not mad at that,'" she said.
VALERIE BERTINELLI, 64, STRIPS DOWN TO UNDERWEAR IN LATEST MOVE PROVING SHE'S A HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK
Bertinelli decided to give Barrymore and her viewers a closer look at her body and lifted her red sweater to reveal her midriff.
The gesture got applause from Barrymore.
"Like all those, you know, planks and sit-ups I've done, you can see underneath the saggy skin," Bertinelli said. "But I have to say … it's 64 years of gravity. It's science. If you focus in on that picture, you're gonna see the little saggies, and I'm proud of them because I'm 64. It’s a belly."
Bertinelli went on to discuss the commentary she's received over the years regarding her body.
"Why, why, why? And there's so many people, ‘You're too thin. You're too fat. You're out of shape. You're in shape. Oh my God. I want those abs. Oh my God, you're ugly.’ So, what I've learned is my dad was wrong. You can't make everybody like you. And I'm OK with that, finally at this age.
"I don't like that I was part of that manipulation of our brains of we have to look a certain way. We have to be a certain weight," she added. "I'm a size 10. How is that too thin? I'm a size 10. How is that too fat? I'm just me. It's my body."
On Dec. 2, Bertinelli shared a picture of herself posing in a mirror in just her bra and underwear.
"At some point I will talk about the madness my body has been through this year. But right now every lump bump wrinkle and saggy part of me just feels acceptance and simple appreciation to be standing in front of a mirror in a hotel bathroom in downtown Manhattan ready to color my roots late on a Monday night," she captioned her post.
The Food Network star embarked on a journey of self-love and healing throughout the last year and has drawn the support of millions of fans as she shares relatable anecdotes online of her everyday life.
Her journey toward acceptance hasn't been an easy road, though. Earlier this year, Bertinelli chose to abstain from alcohol and focus more on her future and less on her past.
She's shared videos and inspirational messages encouraging followers to "never forget the miracle of being here."
In one message, Bertinelli wrote, "I’ve always been really good at beating myself up about my past and how I could’ve done better. I became a master at judging myself. Judge, jury, and executioner.
"I don’t wanna do that anymore. I want to lead a full authentic life, with my heart open to experiencing everything. No more judging. Accepting who I am, flaws and all. What makes me, me."
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Bertinelli addressed her followers, encouraging them to consider coping mechanisms or unhealthy habits, like drinking or binge-eating, that they might have developed that "can prevent us from opening our hearts fully."
Part of her "intentional" healing journey was through working on her latest cookbook, "Indulge." She told People magazine the process of healing wasn't linear and included "a lot of therapy sessions, a lot of learning that I deserve to feel good."
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"First came the work," she said. "Why I thought I didn't deserve to be loved. Why I was using food to numb my feelings. All the drama and trauma I hadn’t dealt with — with Ed and my last marriage.
"The cookbook was an offshoot of the emotional and mental healing I‘ve been doing," she said. "I know we’re talking about a cookbook, but this cookbook got me through all of it."
"Ed" refers to late musician Eddie Van Halen, her first husband and the father of her only child, Wolfgang Van Halen. Her last marriage was to financial planner Tom Vitale, whom she divorced in 2022.
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"The more I let myself cry, the better I felt. I wasn’t trying to be happy or sad or thin. I wasn’t trying to be anything other than who I was," she wrote in the book.
While the Emmy Award-winning actress found love again in the arms of writer Mike Goodnough, the couple called it quits in November after 10 months of dating.
Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright contributed to this post.
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