Valerie Bertinelli is reflecting on her days working with a television icon.
In a clip from “The Drew Barrymore Show” shared earlier this week, Bertinelli can be seen answering questions from the audience. When one fan asked what the best piece of advice she’s ever received was, she brought up one of her former co-stars.
“The best piece of advice is from Betty White,” Bertinelli said. “She really taught me about gratitude. I thought I was grateful. She was just living, breathing gratitude, every second of her life, every moment I was around her.”
She went on to say that White “was grateful for the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it,” and that outlook has helped her deal with “really challenging things of the past five years,” saying “I’m grateful for the hard stuff.”
“It’s 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,” Bertinelli continued. “And I think mistakes are there purposefully to help us learn what not to do.”
She concluded: “So, gratitude for sure. Every moment, I’m grateful for. Even the hard stuff. Especially the hard stuff. That’s Betty White.”
Bertinelli and White starred alongside each other on the hit show “Hot In Cleveland” for six seasons, from 2010 to 2015. White played Elka Ostrovsky, the elderly homeowner Bertinelli’s character and her friends rent a house from when they decide to move from Los Angeles to Cleveland.
She also spoke about her relationship with White during her appearance on the talk show in June, saying “she was magical,” and calling herself “lucky” to have been able “to work with her for five years.”
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The actress has been very vocal about her recent struggles on social media, often taking to Instagram to share what she is going through. In May 2025, she shared with her followers that she is “going through some of the most emotionally excruciating eight months of my life.”
“This is not to say I feel sorry for myself because I don’t. Nobody has the market cornered on grief and heartache. People go through hard s— all the time. You just do what you have to do to get through what you have to get through,” she said. “And I don’t know that I would change any of it. I’ve learned so much more about my strength, my weaknesses, my patience, my resilience, and my worth. I still have more inner work left to do.”
Two months later, Bertinelli took to the social media app to share that she is struggling to remain sober during her more difficult moments.
“I’ve been going through some really intense, uncomfortable, sad, emotionally excruciating feelings the last few days, and I want to drink. I want to numb it. I don’t want to feel it,” Bertinelli admitted.
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She continued, “But my logical mind is like, ‘No, you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to numb it. You know what will help you feel better is to just feel the feelings. Get through to the other side. Have a good cry.’ And yet, I can’t cry.”
While she didn’t disclose what her specific struggles have been, she broke up with her boyfriend Mike Goodnough in November 2024, after 10 months of dating.
