Valerie Bertinelli Opens Up About Being Sexually Assaulted When She Was 11

Actress and former Food Network host Valerie Bertinelli has opened up for the first time about being sexually abused when she was 11 years old, revealing how it took a long time to get over the “shame” of it. Speaking to People ahead of the release of her new book, Getting Naked, in which she writes about the abuse, Bertinelli said, “I had no plans to reveal this. 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 65-year-old actress added, “I guess because I’m healing from it, it’s not so scary anymore. I can say it out loud.