Valerie Bertinelli has broken her silence about being sexually abused when she was just 11 years old.
The 65-year-old actress has opened up about the trauma she experienced as a child, explaining that after years of healing she has learned not to feel shame about the abuse.
In a new interview with People, Valerie admitted she initially had no intention of sharing her story.
"I had no plans to reveal this," she told the outlet. "This was going to be a book about teaching people how to love themselves. I did not know that I would go this far."
The One Day at a Time star was referring to her new book, Getting Naked, in which she delves into the "nitty gritty and getting to the parts that I thought were shameful and come to find out they're not."
At the beginning of the book, Valerie purposely included a photo of herself aged 11 "because that was the little girl that was sexually abused."
"And it boggles my mind that this little girl was taken advantage of that way," she continued. "It boggles my mind because it's still happening ... and I'm furious about it. And we need to start speaking up and saying, 'Enough.'"
The actress added that it has taken her "at least" 10 years to find the courage to speak out about the abuse she suffered.
"The very first time I said it out loud to my therapist, I thought I'm going to feel better now. It got worse before it got better," Valerie recalled. "I maybe ate a little bit more, drank a little bit more. When you stop eating things for comfort, stop drinking alcohol, it exposes your feelings. You can deal with them or not. And I chose to deal with them."
Valerie noted that after years of work, she no longer feels shame about what happened to her, adding, "I'm p**sed off that it happened. Nobody deserves that."
A turning point came in 2024 when the actress suffered a "huge anxiety attack", which prompted her to explore the body shame and self-criticism she had carried for years.
"All of that shame had nothing to do with my body," she says. "It was just something to take out my shame on. My poor body. I was so mean to it."
Getting Naked is set to be published on 10 March.
