First published 2022
Valerie Bertinelli opens her life to readers at age sixty, revealing the struggles behind her television smile. The actress and Food Network host traces her battle with self-worth from her teenage years on One Day at a Time through her turbulent marriage to rock legend Eddie Van Halen. She describes watching their son Wolfgang follow his father into music while she cared for aging parents and navigated the pressures of Hollywood's beauty standards. The death of Eddie Van Halen becomes a turning point that forces Bertinelli to examine what truly matters. She chronicles her decision to stop fighting the scale and start fighting for happiness instead. Through personal stories about family, food, and the connections that sustain us, Bertinelli shows how loss taught her to value herself beyond her appearance and find contentment in ordinary moments.
Genres: family-life, self-help, autobiography, non-fiction, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, second-chance
Setting: Hollywood
Period: 21st-Century
304 pages · Kindle Edition · Mariner Books
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness