Heavy/Getty Valerie Bertinelli talks divorce.
Celebrity chef Valerie Bertinelli has marked two years since her divorce from Tom Vitale.
“Today marks two years of freedom. Two years of walking through self doubt and doing my best to get to the other side. Two years of knowing that I didn’t deserve to tolerate the intolerable,” she captioned an Instagram post on November 22.
“I want to be the best, most authentic version of myself heading into this last chapter of my life. I am learning that until I love myself and accept myself, all of me, my dark and light sides, I can never give someone else the love and emotional vulnerability that they need and deserve. You must give it to yourself first so that you can share it. Whoo boy. I’m workin on it,” she added.
Bertinelli married Vitale in 2011. The two finalized their divorce in November 2022.
Valerie Bertinelli Had a Tough Time in the Aftermath of Her Split
Bertinelli first filed for legal separation from Vitale in November 2021, citing irreconcilable differences, according to People magazine. Six months later, Bertinelli filed for divorce.
“I’ve been going through some yucky stuff lately,” she said on a TikTok in May 2022. She received a great deal of support in the comments section.
“We grew apart. The decision has nothing to do with my love for Ed. I wish Tom the best and I know he feels the same way about me,” Bertinelli told People, referring to her first husband, Eddie Val Halen.
Then, in an interview on Today, Bertinelli said that she wanted to spend her life alone.
“I am gonna be more than happy to be happily divorced and spend the rest of my life alone,” Bertinelli said. “I’ll be happy that way. Well, with my six cats and my dog and my son, and hopefully one day grandchildren,” she added.
Valerie Bertinelli Found Love Again With Mike Goodnough
Despite wanting to live her life as a single woman, Bertinelli put herself back out there and ended up finding love with Mike Goodnough.
“I’ve met someone. And I’m incredibly grateful for him. It’s unlike any relationship that I’ve ever experienced with a man. I don’t want to say too much, but I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have met him, because I wasn’t expecting it,” she told USA Today in March 2024.
“He was not on my radar. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it. So this came out of left field, and I’m grateful it did. He’s very special,” she added.
The two were doing the long distance thing for a while, but apparently things didn’t work out.
“They are no longer in a relationship,” a source told People magazine in early November 2024.
In her recent Instagram post about divorce, Bertinelli gave Goodnough a shoutout.
“Two years of working to find my true self. Two years of eventually dipping my toe in and feeling love again. (Thank you, Mike ♥️),” she wrote.
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Effie Orfanides has more than two decades of experience in entertainment journalism. She has been a contributor with Heavy since 2017 covering entertainment news. Effie is based in Tampa, Florida. More about Effie Orfanides
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