At 65, the actress and celebrity cook is stepping into one of the boldest chapters of her life, and she is not easing into it quietly. Ahead of the March 10 release of her new memoir, Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, Bertinelli is opening up about body shame, aging, regret, and the private struggles she says shaped how she saw herself for years.
The headline-grabbing detail is impossible to miss: Valerie posed nude for the cover of the book. But the bigger story is not shock value. It is what that choice represents. In her recent interview with People, Bertinelli made it clear that this is about finally dropping the pressure to look flawless and admitting that perfection was never the point. After decades of public scrutiny and private self-criticism, she now sounds far more interested in peace than impossible standards.
That honesty runs throughout the memoir rollout. Bertinelli says she spent years carrying harmful ideas about what her body was supposed to look like, including lingering pressure from her younger years to stay painfully thin. She also admitted that stress in 2024 caused her to lose too much weight, something she now looks back on as unhealthy rather than aspirational. These days, she seems less focused on chasing a number and more focused on feeling normal, stable, and at home in her own skin.
She also shares one of the book’s most surprising revelations: she got breast implants in the late 1980s, later regretted it, and had them removed in 2024. Bertinelli said the removal led to serious complications and more surgery, but even in telling that story she leaned on humor instead of shame.
That may be the clearest sign yet of where she is emotionally. The Valerie Bertinelli who once felt trapped by appearance now seems determined to talk about it on her own terms, with candor and a little dark comedy mixed in.
And this personal reset is happening right as her professional life is changing too. Valerie recently launched Valerie’s Place, her own digital platform featuring new cooking content, fan-favorite material, live programming, and a podcast tied to this same era of openness and reinvention. The site currently offers new shows, free preview content for registered users, and classic episodes of Valerie’s Home Cooking, making it clear she is building her next phase around direct connection with fans instead of waiting for a network to define it for her.
She is also keeping busy on The Drew Barrymore Show, where she has continued appearing in Drew Crew segments, adding even more proof that this moment is not about retreat. It is about rebuilding.
In the end, that is why this story lands. Yes, the memoir has the kind of confession that gets attention. Yes, the cover is designed to make people stop scrolling. But underneath all of that is something more relatable: Valerie Bertinelli reaching an age where she seems less interested in being approved of and more interested in being real. And honestly, that might be the most powerful makeover of all.
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