Valerie Bertinelli doesn’t care what the haters think after she posted a picture of herself wearing only underwear on Instagram along with a caption about body positivity.
The celebrity chef and actor, 64, responded to some of the critics of her underwear selfie in a subsequent Instagram post, writing, “To all of you that would sit in judgment of my body, the photo, and my reason for posting it, I hope you find a place in your heart to not judge yourself as harshly as you judge others.”
“I have dealt with judgment my entire life starting from when I was a young girl. It has taken me a long time to realize that my judgment, with patient discernment, is the only judgment that counts.”
“I don’t care what you think of my body. I don’t care what you think about my posting about it,” she continued.
“For the first time in my life, I love my body as it is. It’s not the 20 year old body that I hated and it really is a shame that I hated that beautiful body. Yes, it was a very different body than the one I now inhabit, but it hadn’t yet been through the journey I needed to go through. Even as challenging as it’s been and is, I am grateful for this journey and I wouldn’t trade this body for my 20 year old body any day. Ever.”
She also thanked those were in support of her previous message of self-love.
“First of all, to those of you who felt a connection to my prior post and identified with what I was talking about, (empowering ourselves to focus on our own self-acceptance and self-love), thank you and thank you for your kindness. I see you. We are in this together,” she wrote.
The prior day, Bertinelli had reflected on Instagram on how her body has changed alongside a selfie of her wearing only underwear.
“At some point I will talk about the madness my body has been through this year,” she captioned the photo.
“But right now every lump bump wrinkle and saggy part of me just feels acceptance and simple appreciation to be standing in front of a mirror in a hotel bathroom in downtown Manhattan ready to color my roots late on a Monday night,” she continued.
Several celebrities praised Bertinelli’s photo in the comments. Rosie O’Donnell called the photo “beautiful.” Jennifer Love Hewitt wrote, “I love you so much!” and Kristin Chenoweth commented, “You look great!”
Bertinelli has opened up about her struggle with body acceptance and self-love in the past. In October 2023, she shared her “before” photo from when she was a weight loss spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
“Health is not a body size. Health is not the number you see on the scale. Your worth as a human being isn’t dictated by your body. I thought I was fat the last time I wore these clothes,” she said in a now-deleted Instagram video.
“I’ve never felt more beautiful, more at peace, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today, and I’m wearing my ‘fat clothes,’” she added. “That’s f—ed up.”
The former Food Network host has also been candid about her mental health. Last month, she shared an Instagram video of her hand shaking after an anxiety attack.
“I’ve sat on this post for a day because it’s incredibly vulnerable and that’s always scary to share. But I’m posting because we’re all out here doing our best having a human experience and none of us want to feel like we’re alone in that,” she began her lengthy caption to the video.
“So I don’t know if you can tell from this video (and my heart is still beating a little rapidly as I write this) I had a really bad anxiety attack today,” she continued. “I haven’t had one like this in a very, very long time. A few hours ago, I was weeping uncontrollably, and my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest. I couldn’t stop shaking.”
The former “Hot in Cleveland” star also recently opened up about how she has been caring for herself in the two years following her divorce. Bertinelli and her ex-husband, financial planner Tom Vitale, finalized their divorce in 2022.
In an Instagram post, she celebrated “two years of freedom” and shared her desire to be the “best, most authentic version” of herself as she entered what she called “this last chapter of my life.”
“I am learning that until I love myself and accept myself, all of me, my dark and light sides, I can never give someone else the love and emotional vulnerability that they need and deserve,” she wrote. “You must give it to yourself first so that you can share it.”
