Beloved actress and author Valerie Bertinelli is sharing one of the most painful chapters of her life for the first time, revealing that she was sexually abused at age 11. Now 65, Bertinelli says she never originally intended to make the trauma public, but as she worked on her deeply personal new book, she realized honesty required her to go further than she ever had before.
“I had no plans to reveal this,” she says candidly. “This was going to be a book about teaching people how to love themselves. I did not know that I would go this far.”
Her upcoming book, Getting Naked, set for release March 10 through Harper Wave, is a raw and unfiltered exploration of identity, shame and healing. Bertinelli describes the project as an act of emotional vulnerability. “It’s about getting naked with who I am, emotionally, physically,” she explains. “It was really about getting to the nitty-gritty and getting to the parts that I thought were shameful and come to find out they’re not. They’re all kinds of different facets of what makes us who we are.”
One of the most powerful elements of the book is a photograph of herself at 11 years old — the age when the abuse occurred. She intentionally included the image, referring to it as “the little girl that was sexually abused.” Looking at the photo now fills her with a mix of heartbreak and anger.
“It boggles my mind that this little girl was taken advantage of that way,” she says. “It boggles my mind because it’s still happening … and I’m furious about it. We need to start speaking up and saying, ‘Enough.’”
The journey toward speaking out was not quick. Bertinelli reveals that it took more than a decade before she felt ready to confront the trauma publicly. The first time she said the words aloud — to her therapist — she expected immediate relief. Instead, the pain intensified.
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“The very first time I said it out loud to my therapist, I thought I’m going to feel better now,” she recalls. “It got worse before it got better.” Facing her childhood trauma brought difficult consequences. Bertinelli openly discusses how unresolved pain manifested in struggles with eating and drinking. Confronting the abuse forced her to examine long-held patterns of self-criticism and body shame.
“I don’t feel shame about it anymore,” she says firmly. “I’m pissed off that it happened. Nobody deserves that.” She describes 2024 as a turning point. At the end of the year, she experienced a severe anxiety attack that left her feeling emotionally overwhelmed. “I had a huge anxiety attack at the end of 2024 that brought me to my knees. I thought I’m not getting anywhere. I needed to do more work,” she says.
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That moment prompted a deeper reckoning with her past. Bertinelli began to untangle the connection between the abuse and the way she viewed her body. Over time, she realized that the shame she had carried for decades had nothing to do with her physical appearance.
“All of that shame had nothing to do with my body,” she explains. “It was just something to take out my shame on. My poor body. I was so mean to it. I just needed to get all those voices out of my head.”
Throughout her healing journey, Bertinelli has leaned on the steady presence of her decades-long career. She first captured audiences’ hearts on One Day at a Time, later starred in Hot in Cleveland, and currently appears on The Drew Barrymore Show. Work, she says, has provided structure and purpose during turbulent times.
Her greatest source of strength, however, is her son, Wolfgang Van Halen. Cooking has also been a form of comfort and connection — something she hopes to expand through her new digital initiative, Valerie’s Place. The platform is designed to foster community, warmth and shared experience.
“I want to build a community where everybody is welcome,” she says. “It’s a place where people can come in to my kitchen and cook with me because I’ve missed that a lot.”
When she thinks back to herself at 11, Bertinelli remembers a carefree child who loved simple joys. “I loved to color, read, play with my Barbies and ride my bike around the block. I loved my cats. I was just a little girl,” she says. Today, she claims a new identity with quiet strength: survivor. “I’m a survivor,” she says simply.
By sharing her story, Bertinelli hopes not only to continue her own healing but to encourage others to confront their pain without shame. Her vulnerability marks a powerful new chapter — one defined not by what happened to her, but by the resilience she has chosen in response.
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