T.V. star, Valerie Bertinelli, has been through a lot since her days on the sitcom One Day at a Time where she earned two Golden Globes for her performance as child actress Barbara Cooper. These days though, Bertinelli is taking on an entirely different subject for which she’s no stranger. As a spokeswoman for diet guru Jenny Craig, Bertinelli became somewhat of an icon for her miraculous weight loss during her stint with the nutrition company. All it took was for one comment–a person who was obviously trolling Bertinelli’s social media site–to mention that the 61-year old appeared as if she had gained weight, BOOM, Bertinelli launched her words for all to hear (and see)! Not only did she appear on her Instagram page to defend herself as of late, but she wanted to spread a message of kindness and how it’s important to watch your words and where you aim them. She was an instant viral hit, with her almost 825,000 followers watching her plea for compassion as she told her story. It was gut-wrenching, and also prolifically simple. Be kind and show compassion.
Initially, Bertinelli was going to delete her story, but instead, she owned it. After experiencing the grief of losing her famous ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, to cancer last year, she wasn’t about to also lose her vulnerability. And that alone gave her the courage to stand up to those women and men who choose to body shame others on a global social media platform. Her raw response to the fat shamer was a message that became the top story of the day, mainly because women have been subjected to weight issues for far too long, and Bertinelli had had enough. She was extremely candid, super emotional, and in so doing, she garnered worldwide attention to women’s body weight issues and how we, as a society, handle them with grace. Or not. It was clear in her Instagram response that the person who commented had struck a sore spot with Bertinelli, and her tears alone proved how she was extremely tired of it all.
She wrote on her social media page “We all could use a little more kindness and patience and grace because we just never know what someone else is going through. “So here it is. Not deleting. Owning it. #compassion.” Her exact words spoke to her followers and the several thousand women who agreed with Bertinelli and shared her emotional video on their own page. Although she’s struggled with managing her weight for most of her adult life, Bertinelli–at age 61–wasn’t about to struggle in her message to the stranger who so callously commented on her current weight. She wanted everyone to hear what she had to say and she wasn’t going to sugarcoat her words one iota. It’s this exact type of social media content that inspires compassion, and highlights the true nature of those we put on a pedestal and hold in a different light. Valerie Bertinelli showed up for her fans, but she also showed up for herself.