Valerie Bertinelli, 65, has revealed that she was sexually assaulted at 11 years old ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir, Getting Naked.
Speaking to People ahead of the memoir’s March 10 release, the former Food Network host explained that she never intended to go public with her sexual assault.
“I had no plans to reveal this,” she said. “This was going to be a book about teaching people how to love themselves. I did not know that I would go this far.”
She told the publication that she considered sharing the news as another part of the healing journey. “I guess because I'm healing from it, it’s not so scary anymore,” Bertinelli added. “I can say it out loud. I was sexually assaulted. It doesn't feel like it owns me anymore.
“I’m a survivor,” she added.
Bertinelli included a photo of herself at 11 years old in the memoir “because that was the little girl that was sexually abused,” she told People.
“And it boggles my mind that this little girl was taken advantage of that way. It boggles my mind because it’s still happening ... and I’m furious about it. And we need to start speaking up and saying, ‘Enough.’”
Reflecting on her demeanor and interests when she was that young, she told People, “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.”
The One Day at a Time star admitted that she struggled to speak out about what happened, noting it took her at least 10 years. And while she thought she would feel better after saying it out loud to her therapist, Bertinelli said “it got worse before it got better.”
Bertinelli previously published another memoir in 2022 titled Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today.
In that book, she reflected on the last words she said to her first husband, Eddie Van Halen, before he died of cancer in late 2020 at age 65. The two were married from 1981 to 2007 and share one son, Wolfgang.
She wrote that as Van Halen lay dying, she told her ex-husband through tears: “Maybe next time. Maybe next time, we’ll get it right.” She added that they shared almost four decades of “love, anger, frustration and friendship” before his death.
“I loved Ed more than I know how to explain,” Bertinelli wrote. “I loved his soul.”
Getting Naked hits shelves March 10.
Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673).
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