How Valerie Bertinelli Celebrates Six Months of Sobriety
By Movieguide® Contributor
Food Network chef Valerie Bertinelli is celebrating six months of sobriety with a simple selfie.
“Six months. No alcohol,” Bertinelli said on Monday with a photo of herself gently smiling into the camera.
“She captioned the make-up-free selfie, tagging the Reframe App — an application designed to help reduce alcohol consumption that she’s been using ever since she participated in ‘Dry January’ earlier this year — as she shared the impressive milestone with her fans,” Parade said.
The post received many congratulations and encouragement from fellow chefs and fans.
Actress Melissa Peterman showed her support, commenting, “❤️❤️❤️ 👏👏👏.”
THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Producer Andy Lassner told her, “That is a huge deal. Congrats.”
PEOPLE reported that Bertinelli considered going sober in 2022 when she wrote her book, “Enough Already,” but was going through a hard time.
Movieguide® reported on the chef’s choice to be sober in April:
“Emotions are information,” she said. “When I decided to really question why I was having a certain emotion, I was able to — most of the time — walk through it and get to the other side. I’m actually shocked at how hard it’s not [hard to give up]. Because for a long time, I leaned on it. Right now, I love how I feel more than how the alcohol makes me feel.”
And right now, she feels great.
“I don’t need anything to amplify my happiness right now,” Bertinelli told PEOPLE. “I feel high just on life. I recently went out to dinner with a friend, and I had ginger ale in a wine glass. And it felt like I was celebrating.”
Bertinelli’s boyfriend, writer Mike Goodnough, revealed that they’ve been on the same journey together.
He commented on her post, “Funny how we both just randomly decided to stop drinking only weeks before we met each other.”
Bertinelli and Goodnaugh met through Instagram several years ago and met in person in January 2024.
“I’m driving up to meet him, and he’s already at the hotel standing outside,” she told PEOPLE of their first meeting after they got to know each other long-distance. “I just jump out of the car, and I run to him, and I hug him. It was the best hug. I immediately felt like I was home. This is where I belong, in this man’s arms. It all feels incredibly right.”
