Valerie Bertinelli looked stunning when she appeared in a green string bikini for the cover of People magazine in 2009.
But now the 60-year-old chef – who regularly appears on The Food Network – told that same publication that while she worked ‘very, very hard’ to lose 50lbs to look great in swimwear, she wishes she had worked even harder on her mental health.
‘There’s a lot of pride and a lot of shame associated with that cover,’ she told the new cover of People. ‘I worked really, really, really hard. Physically definitely. I wish to God I had worked just as hard on my mental shape.’
Wow: Valerie Bertinelli looked stunning when she appeared in a green bikini for the cover of People magazine in 2009
Was she happy? But now the 60-year-old chef – who regularly appears on The Food Network – told People that while she worked ‘very, very hard’ to lose 50lbs to look great in swimwear, she wishes she had worked even harder on her mental health. Seen in 2018
The star had lost the 50lbs because she was a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
It took months to get that thin and it was the first time she had posed in a bikini in many years.
But at the time the One Day At A Time star was still battling her feelings about her body image.
In the 11 years since she posed for the cover, Valerie’s battle with fluctuating weight and emotional eating have continued, with the TV star telling People: ‘When I don’t work on what’s eating me, I’m going to start eating.’
Hard past: And when she starred on One Day At A Time she felt she had to stay thin. That caused her to become mad and now she wishes she had not ‘wasted’ worrying over her size
The beauty also said that she has turned to food to cope with her feelings.
And she was ‘eating through’ whatever drama she was facing at the time.
A focus on her body began when she was a child. A fifth grade teacher told her she needed to watch her weight.
And when she starred on One Day At A Time she felt she had to stay thin.
That caused her to become mad and now she wishes she had not ‘wasted’ worrying over her size.
‘Now I can be angry for that little girl,’ she said. ‘It feels like so much time wasted.’
‘The very first time I became really aware of my body, I remember my fifth grade teacher patted me on the belly and said, “You might want to keep an eye on that,”‘ Valerie recalls in the new issue of People.
New cover: Her latest People cover does not focus on her body but rather how happy she is
‘How dare he? At that age we’re so full of joy, and then to have someone slap you for nothing. For just standing there.’
When she was 14 and on One Day At A Time, she always felt as though she wasn’t thin enough.
‘I look back at pictures and even in the first season I felt big next to [co-star] Mackenzie [Phillips],’ she said. ‘I wasn’t. I was 15 years old. But I was made to feel I could stand to lose a few.’
Valerie added that crew members on the hit sitcom would urge her to slim down, recalling how they would tell her: ‘Let’s see if we can get you into a smaller size.’
The TV star has spent much of her life ‘always trying to be better… thinner, nicer, prettier’, and she says she is ‘angry’ about all of the time she has ‘wasted’ obsessing over her weight as a result of the intense scrutiny and criticism she faced as a child.
Behind the scenes: The TV legend says she faced constant pressure to lose weight while acting on the show, and would often compare herself to co-star Mackenzie Phillips (right)
New outlook: Now, Valerie, pictured in 2019, is determined to focus on achieving a healthy mind and body, after decades of struggling with emotional eating
Although Valerie, who is a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, has now reached a place where she is learning to be feel more comfortable in her own skin, she admits that it took a long time to get there.
In January, she said that she was determined to focus more on maintaining a healthy body and mind, explaining at the time that she had started following a new diet and workout regimen that she hoped would help her to achieve that balance.
‘I just feel really positive about 2020,’ she told Today at the start of the year. ‘I feel like it’s a new dawn.’
In January, Valerie confessed that she was following a new healthy lifestyle routine, one that she hoped might not only help her to ‘lose a few pounds’ but also enable her to ‘feel better about her life’.
‘I want to not fake it until I make it anymore and I think a lot of people out there feel the same way I feel so, I thought, maybe, we can lean on each other.’