Valerie Bertinelli Reveals Childhood Sexual Abuse in New Memoir

Actress and television personality Valerie Bertinelli has revealed for the first time that she was sexually abused when she was 11 years old, sharing the painful experience in her upcoming memoir Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect.

The 65-year-old star said she did not originally plan to include the deeply personal story in the book. “I had no plans to reveal this,” Bertinelli explained in a recent interview. “This was going to be a book about teaching people how to love themselves. I did not know that I would go this far.”

Bertinelli said she now feels strong enough to talk about the trauma after years of healing. “I guess because I’m healing from it, it’s not so scary anymore,” she said. “I can say it out loud. I was sexually assaulted. It doesn’t feel like it owns me anymore.”

The memoir, scheduled for release on March 10, explores what Bertinelli describes as the “raw truth” about her life and personal struggles. She said the book focuses on being emotionally honest and confronting parts of herself she once believed were shameful.

“It’s about getting naked with who I am, emotionally and physically,” she said. “It was really about getting to the nitty gritty and the parts that I thought were shameful and realizing they’re not. They’re just different parts of what make us who we are.”

To open the chapter discussing the abuse, Bertinelli included a photograph of herself at 11 years old. She said seeing the image still deeply affects her.

“That was the little girl that was sexually abused,” she said. “It boggles my mind that this little girl was taken advantage of that way. And it still happens today. I’m furious about it, and we need to start speaking up and saying, ‘Enough.’”

Bertinelli explained that it took more than a decade to feel ready to speak publicly about the experience. She first revealed it to her therapist years ago, expecting immediate relief.

“I thought I’m going to feel better now,” she said. “But it got worse before it got better.”

During that time, she struggled with emotional coping habits, including overeating and drinking more alcohol. She said confronting those habits forced her to face deeper feelings connected to her childhood trauma.

When she stopped using food or alcohol for comfort, she said it exposed emotions she had long avoided. “You can deal with them or not. And I chose to deal with them,” Bertinelli said. “I don’t feel shame about it anymore. I’m angry that it happened. Nobody deserves that.”

She described her younger self as a typical child who loved simple activities. “I loved to color, read, play with my Barbies, and ride my bike around the block,” she recalled. “I loved my cats. I was just a little girl.”

Looking back today, Bertinelli says she sees herself as a survivor.

The memoir also reflects on several other personal struggles she has shared publicly over the years. Bertinelli previously opened up about her complicated marriage to late rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, admitting their relationship was often difficult and influenced by substance abuse.

She has also spoken about using cocaine in her early twenties to keep up with the rock-star lifestyle and about her long battle with body image and diet culture. For years, Bertinelli was the face of the weight-loss brand Jenny Craig, famously losing 40 pounds and appearing on magazine covers. However, she later said the pressure to maintain that weight was unrealistic and harmful.

More recently, Bertinelli faced professional and personal challenges, including her departure from Food Network and the public fallout from her 2022 divorce from Tom Vitale.

Despite those struggles, Bertinelli says writing the memoir helped her better understand herself and confront years of shame and self-criticism.

“All of that shame had nothing to do with my body,” she said. “It was something I used to take my shame out on. I was so mean to my body.”

Her new memoir, Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, is currently available for preorder and will be released on March 10, 2026. In the book, Bertinelli hopes that sharing her story will encourage others dealing with trauma to speak openly and begin their own healing journeys.