Valerie Bertinelli celebrates her 65th birthday.
The celebrity chef reflected on the past year in a birthday post on Wednesday, April 23
Valerie Bertinelli is stepping into 65 with wisdom, joy, and a heart full of gratitude. In a candid birthday message, the beloved actress and celebrity chef reflects on a year of emotional growth, personal healing, and deep love — from embracing her inner child to weathering heartbreak and celebrating life with her son, Wolfgang. As she puts it: “I went through it all… and I’m so grateful.” 🌈❤️
Valerie Bertinelli is feeling “blessed” as she reaches a milestone birthday.
The celebrity chef, who turned 65 on Wednesday, April 23, reflected on gratitude in an Instagram Reel the same day, which included highlights from the past year of her life.
The compilation featured numerous selfies, along with appearances from family and friends such as her son, Wolfgang Van Halen, and Drew Barrymore, whose talk show she frequently joins as a lifestyle expert.
Bertinelli began the post by remembering the date of her birth in Wilmington, Del.
“April 23, 1960,” she wrote, adding that it was 8 p.m. “Taurus sun 🌎Aries moon 🔥Scorpio rising 😈”
The One Day at a Time star went on to share her optimistic outlook for the future.
“Went through it all 😅 in the last handful of years and I’m so grateful for the downs as much as I am for all of the ups I am blessed to experience,” she wrote. “The light at the end of the tunnel is finally here. I can see it. I feel it.”
“I love my family,” she continued. “I love my friends. I love all of you out there supporting me and being a part of our community here. I am one lucky and grateful mofo. XOXO 💋♥️”
Wolfgang shared his own tribute to his mom Wednesday, posting a sweet childhood photo of the pair with his dad, late Van Halen frontman Eddie Van Halen.
“Happy Birthday MAAAAAAAA!!!! Love you!!! ❤️❤️❤️,” Wolfgang wrote, to which Bertinelli replied, “Love you! ♥️ to the moon and back sweet boy 🥰”
Bertinelli was married to Eddie from 1981 until 2007. He died from cancer in October 2020.
Earlier this week, Bertinelli, who found fame as a teenager on the 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time, discussed the impact of child stardom on her adulthood during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.
“You become a grown-up so quickly and then when you actually become a grown-up, like we are now, we are now children again,” she said. “And we embrace the child in us and enjoy the childlike wonder that we see through our eyes now, at least for me, and I see that in you every day, you know? Now we can embrace our child that we weren’t allowed to embrace a long time ago.”
The Food Network alum also observed that it’s better to “sit next to” trauma than to run away from it.
“I think that’s a really important thing for all of us to be able to do not only run stop running away from things and not necessarily running towards something, but just being able to walk away and reflect and appreciate and hold with that all the trauma or whatever that holds that is painful and also hold with it all the joy that comes with it as well or next to it,” she said.
The conversation came days after Bertinelli’s ex-boyfriend Mike Goodnough shared a detailed post about their breakup on Instagram.
“Valerie and I had a complicated relationship,” Goodnough, 54, wrote on Friday, April 18. “Our time as a couple ended months ago but our close contact only really ended recently. So, it is more ‘fresh’ than it would seem.”
The former couple dated for 10 months until their split in November 2024.
Goodnough cited an “endless number” of things that interfered in their relationship, noting that most of them were “external.”
“The one thing that was never an issue was our love for each other,” he added. “I loved Valerie more than I’ve ever loved someone in a relationship of choice. (My love for my son is a whole different thing.).”
Goodnough called the dissolution of their relationship “the most painful experience of my life,” and confirmed, “This chapter is now closed for me.”
Bertinelli has not publicly responded to his account of the breakup, but shared a video of herself taking a stroll with her dog Luna over the weekend.
“This is my gentle encouragement to get up and go for a walk,” she said in the Instagram clip posted Sunday. “I’m telling you, you won’t regret it.”
