Valerie Bertinelli

Valerie Bertinelli has written a "tell-all" memoir entitled Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time. I haven't read it yet, but it will supposedly discuss her time on the sitcom "One Day at a Time" in addition to her Jenny Craig weight loss, her depression (I had never heard about that before) and of course, her marriage to Eddie Van Halen, the famous rock guitarist.
I absolutely ADORED her in "One Day at a Time" (more about that later on), and watched her in just about every made-for-TV movie she was in, including The Promise of Love (about a woman who gave up college to marry her Marine boyfriend and then became a widow after he was sent to Vietnam), The Seduction of Gina (about a young, recently married woman who is bored and discovers, then becomes obsessed with blackjack, and tries to hide it from her husband), and Shattered Vows (about a girl who becomes a nun at the age of 16, then can't get used to the strict rules and when she falls in love with a priest, wants to withdraw her vow). There were so many others, but these stand out in my mind.

Valerie has always seemed to be the cutesy, girl-next-door type. She has that darling smile, a bubbly personality, and is always so...perky, for lack of a better term. When it was announced that she was marrying Eddie Van Halen, I was surprised. Although he is a very talented guitarist, he was NOT who I had in mind for sweet Valerie. However, it was not my call to make, so I just accepted it.I wondered if it would last. I just couldn't imagine her not marrying for love and expecting it to be a life long commitment. I remember seeing her on an episode of the Merv Griffin Show many years ago, and he asked her about the rumors surrounding her marriage (that it was on the rocks and Eddie was having affairs with other women). She looked Merv right in the eye when she said she knew that none of the rumors were true and that SHE was the one he went to bed with every night. Then I wondered if they would ever have children. After ten years of being married, their son was born. When I found out he was named Wolfgang (Wolfie), I wondered if she lost her mind. I was surprised that they never had any more children, but that wasn't my call to make.

I was NOT surprised, however, when they eventually separated and divorced. She's been involved with Tom Vitale for almost 4 years now, and I just hope she's happy with him.

As the press for the book has come out, I was surprised to find out that she had dated Steven Spielberg before she became involved with Eddie. I was also surprised to find out that she has suffered with depression. But I was REALLY surprised when I found out that she and Eddie had both been unfaithful. Of course, also included in her book is her weight loss story with Jenny Craig. I'm very happy for her. She seems to be doing well on all fronts right now, and I'm glad about that.

Back in the summer of 1976 I spent about three weeks in southern California. I stayed with my aunt and she made sure that I experienced a LOT while I was there. One of the things we did was see a taping of "One Day at a Time" and it was great! The tickets were free, but if you wanted to get in to see a show, you had to get in line EARLY. We got there about 3 hours before we would even be let into the studio. There was one woman in line ahead of us and we sat on the concrete patio and talked to pass the time. She had gone to see many tapings and told us "what was what" as far as actually getting in the door. If you had a ticket like we had, then you just got there early, waited in line, and hoped for the best. There was a second line with "regular" people that was next to our line. Those were people who had tried to get into other shows and didn't make it, so they were given tickets that were a different color for the taping we were waiting for. They would be seated before us. If all the seats were taken by the time they were all seated, none of us would get in. I kept watching that line, thinking that we should surely make it in...there weren't all THAT many people in the line. Unfortunately they didn't really have the need to get in line extremely early like we did.

Then just a short while before they were to start letting us in, a third line was forming, and it was a little further away. The woman in front of us told us that that was the VIP line, for special guests of the stars or others involved in the show. Great. Just Great. I was still hoping we'd get in, but that VIP line was getting a little long, in my opinion.

Then I recognized two guys in the VIP line...Andy and David Williams. They are the twin nephews of Andy Williams, the singer. Way back then, "The Andy Williams Show" was a variety show that had a pretty big following. His nephews sang on his show several times and I'd seen them. They were about my age, and when you're a teenager, you seem to notice people your own age (at least way back then!). I decided that they were there as Valerie's guests.

THEN...as were sitting there on the patio, waiting in the hot sun, the door that was about 3 feet away opened up, and Valerie Bertinelli herself looked out! She looked right at ME, smiled a huge smile, and said "Hi!", then glanced over at the VIP line, saw the Williams Twins, and waved at them. Then she stepped back inside and the door closed.

She was even cuter than she was on television...and she said "Hi!"...TO ME!