Valerie Bertinelli opens up on childhood trauma and its impact on her 'horrible marriage' with ex-husband Tom Vitale

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Valerie Bertinelli opened up on her journey of healing and self-discovery.

In an of 'The Drew Barrymore Show' on Monday, April 15, the actress candidly spoke about confronting her childhood trauma and its impact on her relationships, according to ET.

Valerie Bertinelli says she 'can't blame' Tom Vitale for their divorce

Speaking to host Drew Barrymore, Bertinelli said, "The business can really mess with a child's head."

"I'm going back to the childhood stuff and working on that," she added.

The cookbook author gained popularity at the age of 15 on 'One Day at a Time'. Explaining how childhood trauma impacted her previous marriage, Bertinelli said, "I can't just blame my ex-husband for a toxic, horrible marriage."

"It's not his fault. What led me to that? Oh, childhood! That's the stuff I got to start working on. I've found that when my gratitude is really placed in even the challenging, hard times, that's when the growth really happens," she added. 

The day her divorce from Vitale was made official, the 'Hot in Cleveland' star called it the "second best day" of her life.

In February, she further opened up on the end of her marriage to the financial planner with whom she was married from 2011 to 2022.

"I am over it. I'm over the narcissist. I'm long over the narcissist. What I’m working on is, what made me tolerate the intolerable?" she said in a video posted on social media.

Valerie Bertinelli reveals her new boyfriend is 10 years her junior

Bertinelli further talked about her new boyfriend whose name she has not yet revealed. However, the television personality disclosed that he is 10 years younger than her.

"I was not going to date. I was going to die alone with my six cats and my dog and be very happy alone," she said.

"He was not supposed to come into my life and here he is, he's 10 years younger. He's amazing. He would like to think he's complicated and brooding, but he's thoughtful and kind and ridiculously talented," she continued.

"He's an amazing writer. He's gorgeous, like, so hot. He does it for me," she further said.

In March, the former 'Food Network' co-host told USA Today that  she "really want women and men to take away that it’s the work that you do [on yourself] that can lead you to meeting someone like I’ve been lucky enough to meet right now."

"This would not have happened three years ago, four years ago, last year — it wouldn’t have. And I feel incredibly lucky to have met him and made a connection with him,” she added.