Month of April 2022: Celebrity Profiles

As much as I love Valerie Bertinelli, I didn’t love reading this book as much as some of the other celebrity profiles. This is a 3.5 star for me...a little better than average, but not great. I found it a little dry reading and kind of repetitive thoughts over and over. I will say it did satisfy my curiosity of what happened with her after “One Day at a Time” (1975-1984) ended. I had only found out that she was married to Eddie Van Halen when I was about 40 years old. And boy was I ever shocked! I never knew. How could someone so beautiful fall in love and marry into the hard rock lifestyle like that? This book covers all that, and their life together, and how their marriage fell apart.

What I am most shocked about is how her thoughts and insecurities in her head run EXACTLY LIKE MY THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD...haha! Her weight determines how she feels in life, and so does mine. But, there is much more we have in common. I did write them all down (in my secret little journal) because it was so unbelievable how much alike we are, and she is only 4 years older than me. One difference is I never did drugs. But, obviously, where we really split differences? She is gorgeous, fat or skinny, and I can’t hold a candle to her.

Chapter 28 tells how she had gained up to 172 pounds and was working her way into size 14 jeans when Jenny Craig called and made her an offer as their new spokesperson. This chapter alone is very encouraging for anyone having problems shedding some pounds. ( )

Entertaining. ( )

This is a gossipy book about the girl next door and her tumultuous marriage to a rock star. Valerie Bertinelli, star of “One Day at a Time”, writes of her dysfunctional marriage to Eddie Van Halen. The couple always seemed to be going in different directions with their careers, never taking time to be together and work on their marriage. Valerie suffered from body image problems from her teens into adulthood. She learned she always tried to solve her problems with food. She later became a spokeswoman for Jennie Craig and learned to love herself as she was. ( )

This was an interesting book to me. I could relate to Valerie's weight loss woes. In fact, I plan to re-read the beginning and the end because they were inspiring. The rest of the story was a bit of a mixed bag. I realize things between her and Eddie were bad, but I'm not sure they were quite as one-sided as parts of the book made them out to be. She doesn't claim that she was innocent, which is good, because she definitely wasn't. It does give you a peek behind the curtains of an eighties fame-filled lifestyle and what you see is far from pretty. ( )

Bertinelli tells the story of her life and her constant battle with her weight. Also tells of the turbulent life being an actress and being married to a rock star. ( )