Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli has revealed in her new memoir, Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, that a dramatic weight loss led her to remove her breast implants, marking another challenging chapter in what she calls the “worst year” of her life.
The 65-year-old actress, who rose to fame on the long-running sitcom One Day at a Time, shared in an interview promoting her book that her journey with breast implants began in the late 1980s. Initially, Bertinelli said, she enjoyed the results, but over time, she grew dissatisfied.
“I liked it for a little while and then started to hate it,” she told People magazine. “At a certain point, I had gained and lost so much weight that my boobs were just… I felt like they were down to my belly button. I was like, ‘I just want my small boobs back.’”
Following a fall in 2024, Bertinelli opted to remove the implants. She described the procedure and its aftermath candidly: “The look on my doctor’s face when he finally saw me made me think, ‘Oh s–t, I guess I should have come in earlier.’ He removed the implants and surrounding tissue. Then my breast became infected and started to cave in on itself. It became a crater.”
Despite the complications, Bertinelli approached the situation with humor. “I’ll have to date somebody who can’t see,” she joked, adding, “It was so serious I just had to find the humor in it.”
Her memoir, which features a strategically nude portrait on the cover, explores not only her health and cosmetic struggles but also her difficult childhood, the challenges of aging, and her pursuit of self-acceptance in an unforgiving industry.
Bertinelli also reflected on the broader challenges of 2024. She faced two divorces, the loss of her parents, the death of her son’s father, career setbacks—including the non-renewal of her Food Network contract—and intense anxiety that impacted her mental and emotional health.
“I lost way too much weight in 2024 because I was so stressed out that I never want to be that weight again,” she said. Today, she says she has achieved a healthier relationship with her body: “I’m finally at a comfortable place where my clothes fit. They’re not too big. They’re not too small. I’m just normal. Even though I have a little pooch, who cares?”
Bertinelli also opened up about being dropped by a diet company after regaining weight in 2012, saying, “Life started to get the better of me, and I wasn’t taking care of my mental and emotional health, so the weight started to come back on. They said, ‘We can’t keep going with you because you’re gaining weight again.’”
Getting Naked is set for release on March 10, offering readers an unflinching look at Bertinelli’s personal and professional journey, including the ups and downs of fame, family, and self-acceptance.
