Valerie Bertinelli Reveals Remorse Over Past Endorsements Of Diet Culture

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Recently, Valerie Bertinelli weighed in on the topic of diet culture. 

For me, if I never thought about, talked about or heard another conversation about weight it would be too soon. But it is an important and ever-evolving subject in our culture and Bertinelli, 61, began the exchange on social media.

She posted an emotional and teary video on Instagram, where she described how she felt when people told her she needed to shed some pounds.

“Someone…decided to point out that I needed to lose weight,” she said, on the verge of tears. 

“Because see, I don’t have a scale or I don’t have clothes that I’m trying to put on every day and I don’t have mirrors so I don’t see what’s become of me,” she said brusquely, pointing out the ridiculous nature of the comment. “So I needed that help to let me know that I need to lose weight.”

“You’re not being helpful,” she added. “Because when you see somebody who has put some weight on, my first thought is, ‘That person is obviously going through some things.’”

The vid about fat/body shaming was widely viewed and people were receptive and supportive of her message. 

But over on Twitter, the chatter continued when a follower leveled the accusation that Bertinelli was part of the problem, even going so far as to say she was pivotal in “creating the problem” by promoting diet culture.

To be fair, the tweeter wasn’t trolling just to troll and brought up a valid point — Bertinelli was the face of Jenny Craig for over five years.

Noting her time as a spokesperson for the weight-loss and weight-maintenance brand, the commenter said she “spent decades telling the rest of us to get thin, shilled weight loss shakes, potions & snake oil & NOW wanna be a body shaming warrior? You don’t get to be a victim when you helped create the problem.”

“I’m not a victim,” Bertinelli wrote on Twitter. “I can take the heat. I made the video so I could get my feelings out instead of squashing them down and eating them, which is what I usually do.”

Bertinelli is only human and has been programmed, like the majority of women, to believe she HAS to be thin to be attractive — or to simply be treated with decency and respect. 

In a feat of self-awareness that a lot of people don’t possess, she did own up to playing her part in toxic diet culture. In another reply on her Twitter thread she said, “Yes, I spent 6 years ‘shilling’ for Jenny Craig. (your math’s a little off) I have been buying into the diet industry my whole life and then I became part of the problem, so here I am today receiving the karma of my actions.”

She went on to write, “You can go ahead and judge all you like. However, I can warn you, from experience, that kind of karma doesn’t feel great either.”

Bertinelli feels good about the outpouring of good feedback and support she’s gotten since engaging her followers about body shaming, especially since the positive messages have exceeded the negative.

The day after sharing that earlier video on Instagram, Bertinelli returned with another, happier video, in which she glowingly spoke about the uplifting messages she’s read.

“There’s so much kindness out there,” she said, captioning the post with “thank you, thank you, thank you” accompanied by heart emojis. “I certainly do not feel so alone anymore.”

And she’ll continue the conversation when her latest book comes out in January 2022, aptly titled “Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today.”

How do you feel about Valerie Berinelli’s new stance? Comment below!

If You Want To Read More Articles About Diet Culture, Read These:

Celebrities Love To Endorse Diets On Instagram. Can This Lead To Disordered Eating?

It’s Time We Embrace Body Positivity, Because All Bodies Are Beautiful