Valerie Bertinelli is revealing an impactful piece of advice Betty White gave her that became particularly meaningful during some recent struggles in her life.
Bertinelli, who joined “The Drew Barrymore Show” last year as the show’s lifestyle expert, answered some fan questions in a recent video uploaded to the talk show’s Instagram page. Among the three questions was one from an audience member who asked Bertinelli to reveal a key piece of advice she received.
“The best piece of advice is from Betty White,” Bertinelli replied. “She really taught me about gratitude.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by The Drew Barrymore Show (@thedrewbarrymoreshow)
The 65-year-old actor and TV personality, who co-starred with the late comedic icon on the sitcom “Hot in Cleveland” for six seasons, continued to gush about White and explained how she followed her own advice.
Bertinelli continued, “I thought I was grateful. She was just living, breathing gratitude every second of her life. Every moment I was around her, she was grateful for the good, bad, the ugly, all of it. And I have learned through going through really challenging things of the past five years (that) I’m grateful for the hard stuff.”
The “One Day at a Time” star didn’t provide more details about the tough times she has endured. However, she has been open on social media when she is having a challenging day. In 2020, she mourned the death of ex-husband Eddie Van Halen and paid tribute to him on social media with a now-deleted message. In 2023, her Food Network show, “Valerie’s Home Cooking,” was canceled after 14 seasons. The following year, she posted a video on Instagram showing the effects of “a really bad anxiety attack,” revealing in the caption that she hadn’t had one in years but has a history with anxiety attacks. Then earlier this year, she shared an emotional post about her love life, writing that she has made “mistakes” in past relationships and that she “fumbled the last true good man I met.”
Despite the difficult years, Bertinelli said in the clip shared by “The Drew Barrymore Show” that she has an optimistic perspective thanks to White’s advice.
“It sucked, and I wish I didn’t have to go through it, but there was no other way for me to learn a better way,” she explained. “And I think mistakes are there purposefully to help us learn what not to do. So gratitude for sure — every moment I’m grateful for even the hard stuff, especially the hard stuff. That’s Betty White.”
In the video, she also responded to a question about maintaining her confidence.
“I am so not confident, but I’m learning to be more confident,” she said. Bertinelli explained that she has been working on her self-esteem and trying to accept herself as she is.
She then offered some advice for those who are also struggling with their self-esteem.
“I think things that happened in childhood and the shame we hold on to from it don’t belong to us, and they’re not our fault. And it’s not quite just a release of shame, but it’s learning how to become friends with it and know that it protected me at one point, but there’s no reason for it to protect me any longer,” she added. “I am not a shameful person. I’m a really good kind human being, and I make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean I should hold on to any shame. None of us should.”
For the final question, a fan wanted to know Bertinelli’s secret to achieving true happiness.
This time for her answer, the television personality referenced another influential figure: aviator Pancho Barnes. Bertinelli paraphrased a quote from Barnes about choosing to be happy.
“She was right. You really do have a choice. You have a choice on how you respond to things. You don’t have a choice on circumstances that may surround you. They don’t happen to you,” she noted. “You don’t have a choice about that, but you have a choice on how you respond, how you feel about it, how you get through it. I choose to be happy about it.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
