Valerie Bertinelli just did something that most Hollywood stars her age would consider a career-ending move, or at the very least, a PR nightmare. She stood in front of a hotel bathroom mirror in downtown Manhattan, root-touch-up kit likely nearby, and snapped a photo. But she wasn't wearing a designer gown or a chef's coat.
She was Valerie Bertinelli in her underwear, posing for the world in a simple black two-piece. No airbrushing. No strategic lighting. No "shapewear" doing the heavy lifting.
Honestly, it’s kinda wild when you think about her history. This is the woman who spent years as the face of Jenny Craig. She was the "before and after" girl. For decades, her value seemed tied to how much space she didn't take up. Seeing her now, at 64, posting a "skin-baring snap" not to show off a diet's success, but to celebrate "every lump, bump, wrinkle, and saggy part," feels like a massive glitch in the Hollywood matrix.
It’s about time.
The Viral Selfie and the "Madness" of 2024
The photo hit Instagram like a freight train in December. People weren't just looking; they were reacting—hard. Some were cheering, calling her a "maverick" and a "warrior for body positivity." Others, predictably, were cruel. The internet can be a dumpster fire, and the comment section on a 60-plus woman in her lingerie is basically the spark.
Bertinelli didn't flinch. In her caption, she alluded to the "madness" her body had been through over the last year. Between a very public divorce from Tom Vitale in 2022 and the lingering grief of losing her first husband, Eddie Van Halen, she’s been through the ringer.
"I have no power over someone else's judgment of me and now I have no interest. Finally."
That "finally" carries a lot of weight. You've got to remember that she’s been famous since she was 14. She played Barbara Cooper on One Day at a Time and spent her formative years being told by producers, teachers, and even her own father that her body was something to be "watched." When an elementary school teacher points at your belly and tells you to keep an eye on it, that stays with you. It becomes a ghost that follows you into every dressing room for the next fifty years.
Why This Isn't Just Another Celebrity Thirst Trap
Usually, when a celeb posts a "revealing" photo, there's a product attached. A supplement, a workout app, a new line of leggings. Not here.
This was about radical acceptance.
Bertinelli has been incredibly vocal about moving away from "diet culture." In her 2022 memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, she basically broke up with the scale. She realized that the number on the dial was a liar. It didn't tell her if she was a good mom, a talented cook, or a kind human. It just told her how much she weighed.
She's done with that.
The 2009 Bikini vs. The 2024 Underwear
Let’s look back at 2009. Valerie was 48 and famously wore a green bikini on the cover of People magazine after losing 40 pounds. At the time, she was celebrated as a "Bikini Babe."
But recently, she admitted that the photo shoot brought her as much shame as it did pride. She was starving herself. She was walking five miles a day and living on 1,200 calories. She was "working really, really, really hard" on her physical shape but doing zero work on her mental state.
The difference between the 2009 bikini and the 2024 underwear selfie is the intent.
- 2009: Look what I achieved by punishing myself.
- 2024: Look at what I’ve survived by loving myself.
One was a performance for the public; the other was a gift to herself.
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Addressing the Critics and the "Ozempic" Rumors
You can't talk about Valerie Bertinelli's body today without someone bringing up the "O" word. As weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy saturate the celebrity world, everyone is under a microscope.
Bertinelli hasn't been shy about the topic. While she hasn't confirmed using them herself, she’s defended people who do, arguing that we shouldn't judge the tools people use to get healthy. However, she’s also doubled down on the idea that no drug can fix the "why" behind emotional eating. For her, it was never about the food—it was about the pain she was trying to numb.
She’s spent three years doing "emotional labor." That means therapy. That means mourning. It means realizing that her worth isn't a commodity to be traded for likes or magazine covers.
The "Saggies" Are a Science Lesson
During a guest appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Valerie actually got up and showed the audience her stomach. She joked that what people see isn't "fat"—it's "64 years of gravity."
"It's science," she laughed.
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There’s something incredibly refreshing about a woman in her 60s looking at her body and seeing physics instead of failure. She’s proud of the "little saggies." They are the map of a life lived. They represent a pregnancy, decades of laughter, periods of grief, and a career that has spanned half a century.
What This Means for the Rest of Us
It’s easy to dismiss a celebrity selfie as vanity. But for the millions of women who grew up watching Valerie, this is a permission slip.
It’s a permission slip to stop hating the reflection.
To stop waiting until you lose ten pounds to go to the beach.
To realize that your "fat clothes" (as Valerie calls the outfit from her first Jenny Craig shoot) might actually be the clothes you feel most beautiful in because you’re finally at peace.
She’s basically saying: I’m done. Done with the judgment. Done with the hiding.
Actionable Steps Toward Your Own "Enough Already" Moment
If you’re feeling inspired by Valerie’s "I don’t care" energy, you don’t have to post a selfie in your underwear to find peace.
- Perform an "Emotional Purge": Look through your closet. If you have clothes you’re keeping "for when I’m thinner," get rid of them. They are shame-anchors.
- Mute the Noise: Unfollow social media accounts that make you feel like your body is a project that needs fixing.
- Find Your "Hotel Mirror" Moment: Next time you see a "lump or bump" in the mirror, try to see it through the lens of gratitude. That body has kept you alive. It has gotten you through every "madness" you've ever faced.
- Prioritize the "Mental Shape": Focus on why you eat or how you feel, rather than what the scale says. As Valerie found, the mental work is much harder—but much more permanent—than the physical work.
Valerie Bertinelli in her underwear isn't just a headline or a search term. It's a 64-year-old woman finally deciding that she is enough, exactly as she is, right now.
And that is a lot more interesting than a bikini cover.