Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time » (Reprint)

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.

America's Sweetheart turned working mother gives a frank and inspiring account of her life backstage and in the spotlight.

We all knew and loved Valerie Bertinelli years ago when she played the girl-next-door cutie, Barbara Cooper, in the hit TV show One Day at a Time. From wholesome primetime in America's living rooms, Valerie moved to late nights with the hardest partying band of the decadent 80s when she married rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen at the age of 20. Here are the ups and downs of teen stardom, of her complicated marriage, and of her very public struggle with weight.

Surprising, uplifting, and empowering, Losing It takes you behind the scenes in Valerie's acting career and marriage. Despite Valerie's celebrity, her voice is so down-to-earth, honest, and appealing that you'll feel as if you're talking with a girlfriend over coffee. Funny and candid, Valerie recounts her attempts to maintain a healthy self-image while dealing with social pressures to look and act a certain way, and to overcome career insecurities and relationship problems familiar to the millions of women who struggle every day with these same issues.

From marital turmoil to the joys of a new career, from being named among Penthouse's ten sexiest women in the world to overhearing whispers about her weight gain in the grocery store, this is Valerie's inspiring journey as she finds new love, raises a terrific kid, and motivates other women as a spokesperson for Jenny Craig.

Publishers Weekly

Bertinelli offers a peek behind the sunny facade the popular TV star has long projected about her life and a showbiz career that began at age 14. She narrates her personal memoir with an honest, straightforward and simple reading that matches her writing style. Her story is at times shocking, emotional and uplifting as she opens up about her weight struggle, drug use and marriage to rocker Eddie Van Halen. Bertinelli tells her life story with such enthusiasm and earnestness that it comes off as less of a reading and more of an intimate conversation. The only downside is that she tends to race through much of the story, sometimes making it hard for listeners to keep up. Bertinelli's story is appealing across gender lines, a powerful account about a surprisingly tumultuous life in the spotlight. Simultaneous release with the Free Press hardcover. (Mar.)

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Me: The Quickie Version     9
Prologue: Bring Home the Fun     11
The Vision     19
Tiny Dancer     29
Daydream Believer     38
You've Got the Part     51
Tumbleweed Connections     63
Blue-jean Baby     72
Love Walks In     88
Love Lies Bleeding     100
Doin' Time     114
Feels So Good     125
Runnin' with the Devil     140
Fair Warning     152
Aftershock     164
Sunday Afternoon in the Park     179
Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love     195
Best of Both Worlds     213
And the Cradle Will Rock     226
Hear About It Later     239
You Still Need Work     257
Finish What Ya Started     271
House of Pain     284
Where Have All the Good Times Gone!     296
Black and Blue     308
Going Solo     323
It's about Time     337
Feel Your Way Tonight     349
I'm Fat     365
Losing It     379
Regaining My Life     395
Acknowledgments     411