According to a report from USA Today, Valerie Bertinelli is dating again. During an interview for her latest cookbook, Indulge, she also mentioned that she had met someone.
She said that the relationship she had with this unnamed man was different from all the relationships she’d experienced with men in the past. She didn’t want to go into too much detail, however, and left things vague.
Valerie confirmed that she felt blessed and lucky to be dating this man. She also admitted that she hadn’t been looking to date at the time. She was happy just living alone with her cats and dog.
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However, when this man came into her life, she was completely surprised by him. That said, she’s grateful they did meet.
Earlier in March, Valerie re-posted an old video that had previously been on her Instagram Stories. The old video showed her answering a question if she’d ever date again. She quickly responded no.
In the re-post, Valerie added a comment saying that the old video didn’t age well. The joke refers to her current relationship, which she says has made her very happy.
Tom and Valerie Separated for Irreconcilable Differences
Before her new relationship, Valerie was with Tom Vitale. They were married for 11 years but divorced in 2022.
The couple first met in 2004 and were introduced by Valerie’s brother. Valerie, who was also married to Eddie Van Halen before he passed away from cancer, was looking to leave Eddie at the time.
Tom claimed to People Magazine that it wasn’t love at first. Instead, they fell in love with each other’s families because they were so similar.
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They dated for six years before Tom eventually asked Valerie to marry him in Florence, Italy. Tom was scared during the proposal, but Valerie was eager to marry him. The couple ended up having a pre-honeymoon by taking a vacation in Italy again that lasted three weeks.
In 2011, they finally married in California with a ceremony of 100 guests. Following what seemed like a decade of good memories, in 2021, Valerie filed for separation from Tom.
She cited ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason. Six months later, she moved from separation to divorce, filing for it in May 2022.
One of the reasons some people thought Valerie divorced Tom was because she still had feelings for Eddie. He had passed away from cancer in 2020. She and their son, Wolfgang, had been present at his bed when he passed.
In her memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I am Today, Valerie said that the last words they all said to each other was ‘I love you.’ She also called Eddie her soulmate and said she’d always love him.
Because of her ongoing love for Eddie, some fans wondered if his passing had anything to do with her divorce from Tom. She set the record straight by saying she divorced Tom because they grew apart.
Valerie Took Time to Work on Herself
The divorce wasn’t easy for Valerie, however. In June 2022, Tom put in a challenge against the pre-marital agreement he had made with Valerie.
He didn’t want to pay Valerie spousal support. Tom also requested that Valerie pay him $50,000 in monthly spousal support as well as $200,000 in legal fees.
For some time, Valerie insisted she didn’t want to date or marry again. She said at the time that she was happy to live alone because divorce sucks.
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Another reason was that she had problems trusting people after what happened with the divorce. She couldn’t see herself letting anyone in and needed to work on her trust issues first. The divorce was finalized on November 22, 2022.
Even though Valerie had a rough divorce from Tom, she seems happy with her current, mysterious boyfriend. That said, she also advised people that they needed to work on themselves before finding great relationships.
The one thing she wanted men and women to take away was that the work you do on yourself can lead to meeting someone special. Valerie was sure things wouldn’t have worked out four or three years ago. Even a year ago, she still wasn’t giving herself the love and healing she needed.
Now that she had helped heal herself and worked on herself, she was in the right place emotionally and mentally to make a connection with someone special. Time will tell who Valerie’s mysterious new boyfriend is.
