Product Description

Valerie Bertinelli, then: bubbly sitcom star and America's Sweetheart turned tabloid headline and rock star wife. Now: actress, single working mother of teenage rock star, and weight-loss inspiration to millions.

We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she was girl-next-door cutie Barbara Cooper in the hit TV show One Day at a Time, and more recently when she starred in numerous TV movies and co-starred in Touched by an Angel. From wholesome prime time in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest-partying band of the decadent eighties when she became, at twenty, wife to rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Losing It is Valerie's frank account of her life backstage and in the spotlight: the ups and downs of teen stardom, her complicated marriage to a brilliant, tormented musical genius, the joys of motherhood, and her very public struggle with her weight.

Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It chronicles Valerie's journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women to take back their lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21754 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416569688
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com Review
A Note to Amazon Readers (and a Q&A) from Valerie Bertinelli

Dear Amazon Customer,

Glad to see you here and hopefully purchasing my book. I've heard if you buy multiple copies it's a better experience--a better one for me! But seriously, I'm usually on Amazon, too. I've been buying books through the site for ten years. I enjoy reading the reviews. I get a good sense of the book, and I like to hear what other people have to say. Like in a traditional bookstore, I can look at the cover, peek inside the book, and check out the bestseller lists.

Valerie

1. Do you have a favorite character from a book? I love Scout and Atticus from To Kill A Mockingbird.
2. If you can be any character from a book, who would you like to be? I would like to be Scarlett and I would let Rhett know how much I love him.
3. How do you decide what next book you want to read? If it’s for my book group, whoever hosts the next gathering picks the book, so it’s picked for me seven out of eight times. But on my own, I read reviews and ask people whose taste I like what they’re reading.
4. Where’s your favorite place to read? Either lying in bed or on the sofa next to the fireplace.
5. What is your favorite genre? I don’t really have one.

About the Author
Valerie Bertinelli has been acting since the age of twelve, appearing in more than two dozen made-for-TVmovies. Most recognizably, she appeared on the long-running sitcom One Day at a Time and, more recently, on Touched by an Angel. Now a spokesperson for Jenny Craig, Bertinelli was raised in Claymont, Delaware, and in the San Fernando Valley, California, and was married for twenty years to Eddie Van Halen (they split up in 2001). Currently, she lives with her son, Wolfgang, in Los Angeles.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue

Bring Home the Fun

Some people measure depression by the medication they take or the number of times per week they see a therapist. For me, it was different. I measured my depression with baked jalapeño-and-cheddar-cheese poppers, the brand that advertises itself with the slogan "Bring home the fun."

I'd love to meet the person who came up with that line and ask him a question. Is it really fun to see yourself blow up three dress sizes?

I suppose they wouldn't sell as many if their slogan was "Pack on the pounds." On the other hand, they may do OK with a promotion that said "Forget your ex-husband" or "Eat these instead of having sex -- since nobody wants to see your fat bare ass."

During the cold winter months of 2002-03, when I was making Touched by an Angel in Utah, those jalapeño-and-cheese poppers were my Prozac. I was on a significant dosage: at least nine a night and sometimes more. At the grocery store, I saw other women looking at me when I loaded the boxes into my cart from the frozen food case. I could almost hear them thinking Oh my gosh, that's Valerie Bertinelli. And look: she's on those jalapeño poppers.

It was true. There were nights when I OD'd on those poppers. My mouth burned because I couldn't wait for them to cool down after taking them out of the oven. Other times I savored the taste with tiny, almost sensual bites, drawing out the feeling of comfort and escape I got from eating. The bright smile that served me well for so many years went into storage. So did my size 8 jeans. And my 10s. And my 12s. And my -- well, my weight soared past 170 pounds, the highest it had ever been outside of my pregnancy.

Those were some of the darkest days of my life, and I was eating my way through them. By 2001 my marriage to Eddie Van Halen was over after more than twenty years of competing with his rock-and-roll lifestyle for attention. Our fights about his drinking had taken a toll. Discussing and solving our problems used to bring us closer, but now it wore us out. Ultimately, when he failed to help himself by giving up cigarettes after mouth cancer had threatened his life, I knew, sadly, that one way or another I was going to end up on my own.

By then I was working and living in Utah eight months of the year. Full of anger and frustration, I spent at least three nights a week on a plane so I could see our ten-year-old son, Wolfie, who stayed home in Los Angeles to be in school with his friends. That wasn't the way I wanted to live or the type of person I wanted to be. But instead of helping myself, I did the opposite. I ate my misery and turned my misery into a reason for eating.

Overweight, alone, and horribly depressed, I kept eating poppers and everything else in my path. After Touched went off the air, I returned home and became a hermit. I hid from the world, hoping no one would see that I'd gotten fat. In reality, I was hiding from the one person who could help solve my problems: me.

That was hard to believe. Over the years, I'd tried every diet on the bookshelves -- from the grapefruit diet, to Weight Watchers, to the lemon juice and cayenne pepper fast -- and all of them had worked as long as I stayed on them. But once I stopped, the weight came right back, and, unfortunately with a little extra. While I hate to admit it, I was on the verge of giving up and accepting that I was never going to look the way I wanted to -- or feel the way I wanted to either.

I used to say half-jokingly that I was going to give up, move to the mountains, and be the quirky old fat lady down the street with forty-some-odd cats.

I'm glad I didn't. Instead I ended up outing myself on the cover of the April 4, 2007, issue of People magazine by declaring, "I know what you're thinking -- I'm fat." Publicly, it was the start of a diet where the stakes were total humiliation and embarrassment if I failed to reach my goal. Privately, it was, as my fellow Jenny Craiger Kirstie Alley promised, not just a diet but really the start of a journey. She was right.

By any standard, I've enjoyed a charmed life. Even though I gained notoriety by working on TV, I shunned the spotlight in favor of a normal life, driving carpools, volunteering in my son's classroom, making dinner, and trying never to miss my monthly book club get-togethers. Of all the roles I've undertaken, none has been more satisfying than motherhood. I'm as much of a regular gal as people seem to expect -- and I like it that way.

If you walked into my house right now, you'd find my cat Dexter lounging on the sunny floor in the kitchen, a large bowl of fruit on the counter, delicious-smelling vegetable soup simmering in a tall pot on the stove, the recycling trash can ready to be emptied, and paperwork and schoolbooks spread across the dining room table. You'd also see my boyfriend Tom on the phone in the backroom, and me working the crossword puzzle, as is my daily routine.

Creating this happy picture was a puzzle that took my entire adult life till now to solve. By the time I went public as a size 14, I'd already done the hard work: confronting the fears, insecurities, disappointments, and frustrations that accounted for the three different sizes of dresses and pants I needed in my closet for my constantly changing weight. After that, it was just a matter of portion control, exercise, and self-discipline.

Since going on Jenny Craig in March 2007, I've surpassed my original goal of 30 pounds and set new targets for myself. But the weight I've lost doesn't compare to what I've gained -- or regained -- in my life. The weight loss and renewed zest for life go hand in hand. Kirstie had promised as much when she said, "Valerie, it's not about the weight. -What's going to happen is -you're going to quit hiding and discover the real you."

She was right. My relationships have never been healthier, including the one I have with myself, and I've finally found a joy that seemed beyond my grasp when I was reaching for those jalapeño-and-cheese poppers. Physically and emotionally, I'm a different person. It's like I'm hitting my stride. These days I really do bring home the fun.

In this book, you won't find me professing to have all the answers to life's problems. Hey, I'm still trying to figure out most of those. Instead this story is about the choices I've made, good and bad, and how I've grown and learned from them. There are also exciting times, emotional moments, and life as it happened. Through it all, you'll get me uncensored and unfiltered -- the good, bad, stupid, stubborn, size 14 and size 4. It's nothing more complicated, though as you'll see, it was complicated enough for me. Isn't it always that way?

If you're starving right now because -you're on a diet, ask yourself if your hunger has anything to do with food. I know the answer to that question. Look, we're all human. We go through the same things. If -you're in a dark place over some problem in your life, I hope that reading my story will help you feel less alone when you see that someone else has made the same mistakes and gotten through them. I hope -you'll relate to my story, learn from it, and, as I finally did, find the courage to change, shed any unwanted pounds, and gain all the good things you thought impossible.

Now where did I put that bag of chips?

Just kidding.

Valerie Bertinelli
November 2007
132 pounds

From Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli. Copyright © 2008 by Valerie Bertinelli. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Customer Reviews

An honest, fascinating portrait
When Van Halen opened for the Rolling Stones at Orlando's Tangerine Bowl in 1981, I was front row center. During Van Halen's encore, Valerie Bertinelli discreetly walked on stage behind them and snapped a picture with a tiny Instamatic. Nobody seemed to recognize her but me. Later the back cover of the album "Diver Down," that photo not only became my early claim to fame, but also gave me a moment-in-time memory of seeing a celebrity who clearly didn't want to be seen. I'd always wondered why.

Apparently, she thought she was fat.

Constructed as a series of short chapters, this autobiography is an easy, interesting read. It comes off like a classy tabloid, with lots of details but little trash. You learn all about Bertinelli's experiences with sex, drugs and rock and roll, but she's never mean-spirited and always disses herself as much as others. Weight plays a role throughout, but only one chapter deals with her Jenny Craig experience. The book has 33 black and white photos, including a few from the Van Halen wedding.

I read this the same day I read Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction. What a contrast! Both are true stories with a lot about drugs, yet at the end of Beautiful Boy you feel exhausted, while here you're thinking "Yes! Go Valerie, go!"

Here is the chapter list:

1. THE VISION. An encounter with Eddie during the band's recent reunion tour.

2. TINY DANCER. Early childhood, celebrating good times with food.
3. DAYDREAM BELIEVER. Middle school's "big Italian child-bearing hips."
4. YOU'VE GOT THE PART. Bertinelli breaks into show business at age 14.

5. TUMBLEWEED CONNECTIONS. The first season of "One Day at a Time."
6. BLUE-JEAN BABY. An unpleasant sexual initiation; diet pills.
7. LOVE WALKS IN. An adult boyfriend causes tension.

8. LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Bertinelli deals with her problems by eating.
9. DOIN' TIME. She dates Steven Spielberg and discovers Van Halen.
10. FEELS SO GOOD. She meets Eddie and joins him on tour.

11. RUNNIN' WITH THE DEVIL. The couple move in together and get married.
12. FAIR WARNING. Bertinelli joins the band on its 1981 tour.
13. AFTERSHOCK. "One Day at a Time" gets cancelled; Van Halen peaks.

14. SUNDAY AFTERNOON IN THE PARK. Marital, pregnancy and weight troubles.
15. AIN'T TALKIN' `BOUT LOVE. Cocaine and separation.
16. BEST OF BOTH WORLDS. Eddie and Valerie get back together; she gets pregnant.

17. AND THE CRADLE WILL ROCK. A baby boy: Wolfgang.
18. HEAR ABOUT IT LATER. More marital blues; Bertinelli turns down a chance to be on "Friends" because "I felt too fat to stand next to Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow."
19. YOU STILL NEED WORK. Back again with Eddie. "You look good," he tells her. "You still need to work on your ---. But you look great."

20. FINISH WHAT YA STARTED. Reconnecting with MacKenzie Phillips.
21. HOUSE OF PAIN. Eddie gets cancer, Valerie gets up to 158.
22. WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD TIMES GONE? Sept. 11; Eddie cokes up again.

23. BLACK AND BLUE. Divorce.
24. GOING SOLO. It's hard to be hot at 170 pounds.
25. IT'S ABOUT TIME. Bertinelli dabbles in Judaism, Wolfie joins Van Halen on tour.

26. FEEL YOUR WAY TONIGHT. A new beau.
27. I'M FAT. Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig.
28. LOSING IT. The Jenny Craig experience.

29. REGAINING MY LIFE. How Bertinelli maintains her weight and keeps her life on track.

(Update 5/1/08: See all those comments below? Most have to do with the above chapter list. I included it because I thought it would be helpful, however some folks hate the idea. I'd love to know your opinion.)

Honest Without Any Malice.
This biography is not just for gals or fans of celebrities. The author is honest & reveals her life in twenty nine brief chapters. There really could have been fewer chapter titles since the contents tended to overlap. Nonetheless, it works well. She is poignantly honest about her experiences, mistakes, weaknesses, fears & insecurities. But, she does so without the often heavy celebrity egomania. She actually comes across as very ordinary & kind.

For she does not attack those who were rather unpleasant to her, very refreshing. Her story is not just her battle with becoming overweight. The drains of marrying to young, a drug addicted rockstar husband, the pressures of staying in showbiz, adultery, & her own food to drug, & back to food addictions are all here. Her writing is self-critical, descriptive, concise & clear. She dispalys how she has learned from her past & shows both stabile emotions & good humor.


The most crucial chapters were: 2-Tiny Dancer," how food became her comfort. 4-"You've Got The Part," her first job in showbiz. 8-"Love Lies Bleeding," how food became her drug of choice. 11-Runnin With The Devil," her early relationship with Eddie Van Halen & how quickly they got married. 13-"Aftershock," One Day At A Time gets cancelled & her depression begins. 16-"And The Cradle Will Rock," how her sons birth brought temporary stability to her family life. 17-"House Of Pain," problems with her husbands addictions leads to her gaining weight more than ever before. 19-"Black & Blue," covers the story of her divorce. 22-"Feel Your Way Tonight," how life became far happier when she meets a compatible man. 29-"Regaining My Life," how she maintains her new found weight loss via Jenny Craig & stabilized her life. This was an authentic & fast read for anyone who likes a celebrity who is grounded in reality.

Our little sweetheart bares all!
Transforming your body from weight loss usually means you shed the old skin too. And Valerie Bertinelli has come clean with her personal life. Unlike the public perception of her hard-core, druggie, alky, but "hell-of-a musician" husband, Eddie Van Halen, she held on to the image of a sweetheart, a Hollywood beauty, and showing us that she could handle the rock star marriage so many said was going to fail.

And here, she invites the reader into her life, the reality of it. Readers will connect with so much here, it's just that we normal folk, don't have that persona to keep up.

And what better way to connect with readers than to share "weight loss battles." For the demise of the marriage, she blames so much on stupidity of youth. Oh how we can agree with that. Stupidity is contagious. Drugs, sex & rock & roll rarely make a good marriage, and I like a quote she gave about limited time with Eddie that if you are both drugged, drunk, etc...you are there, but not there.

Bertinelli is honest with herself and she also reveals insecurities, fears, especially the fear of being fat. My opinion, that celebrities prefer the stigma of being a druggie rather than being fat. This book is not only about the weight loss, but the battle spreads into all aspects of our life.

And as far as the cheating goes...we are really not surprised, even if it wasn't well-known that SHE cheated. When you tie in the rigors of motherhood, rockstar druggie hubby, cocaine lifestyle and pressure to stay in the business, food addiction will most likely be there, or exchanged with another addiction.

The writing is clear, concise, and with descriptions that allow the reader to feel, see and connect with Bertinelli's inner-self, the one behind the camera. She has shed some old skin, engages in meaningful insight, learned from the past, is humorous and emotional. She came a long way, it just took ........one day at a time.

Read it!.....Rizzo