Valerie Bertinelli’s reflection on that 2014 swimsuit photo is less about nostalgia and more about liberation. She exposes how a perfectly healthy body was dismissed as “overweight,” revealing the quiet cruelty of beauty standards that so many internalize. For years, she chased the same few pounds, believing peace would come with a smaller size. Instead, it arrived when she stopped treating her body as a problem to fix.
The death of her ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, sharpened what truly matters: love, time, presence, and the fleeting nature of life itself. In her memoir, she describes slowly dismantling the voices of childhood criticism and replacing them with compassion. Her message lands with force because it’s not polished perfection; it’s hard-won honesty. By choosing kindness toward herself now, she gives others permission to step off the scale, reclaim their worth, and finally live in the bodies they have today.