Valerie Bertinelli recalls being fired by weight loss brand after gaining weight
Valerie Bertinelli is opening up about a painful chapter in her past and how it ultimately reshaped her relationship with her body and self-worth.
"The Drew Barrymore Show" lifestyle correspondent reflected on being dropped as a spokesperson for a weight loss brand after regaining weight, recalling the moment during a Jan. 14 episode of the daytime talk show. Looking back at a photo from her 2012 Hollywood Walk of Fame induction, Bertinelli admitted, “I felt so horrified,” adding, “I started a diet program and then became their spokesperson in 2007, and I had lost 50 pounds.”
While the partnership initially aligned with her weight loss success, Bertinelli, 65, shared that life circumstances soon made it difficult to maintain. “Life started to get the better of me,” she explained. “I wasn’t taking care of my mental and emotional health, so the weight started to come back on.”
The timing was especially difficult, as Bertinelli revealed that her Walk of Fame ceremony happened at the same time she was let go from her contract. “This was the last year I was with this diet company,” she said. “They fired me. Eventually they said, ‘We can’t keep going with you because you’re gaining weight again.’”
She wore a lace dress to the ceremony and admits she was struggling with her body image. “This was a size 12, and I remember thinking, ‘But size 12 is not that big,’ but I had gotten down to a size four, which was way too small for me and impossible for me to maintain.”
Today, Bertinelli says she’s finally found peace. “I have been up and down, but pretty much basically this weight my whole life that I am right now,” she shared. “I’m a size 10 now, and I would’ve been horrified then but right now, it’s about my mental and emotional health.”
She continued, “I’m so strong and firm in who I am. It doesn’t matter how much I weigh. What matters is who I am, how I treat people.”
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