Valerie Bertinelli's Thoughts On Beauty Are Perfect For Older Women To Hear

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Until someone finds the fountain of youth, it's a fact that the march of time will eventually come for us all. But is anyone as keenly aware of their changing body as a child star who's lived their whole life in the spotlight? With the way most media outlets discuss aging (not to mention women's bodies), publicly transforming from a girl to a young woman to a mature lady would give anyone a lot to process. Such is the case for Valerie Bertinelli, who's been a public figure since her early role on "One Day at a Time."

The star was only 14 when she landed the part and has spent more than 50 years growing into herself under the constant scrutiny of paparazzi. As you might expect, this pressure has often made it difficult for Bertinelli to feel comfortable in her own skin, especially as she struggled to maintain a certain weight and appearance. As she wrote in her 2022 memoir, "Enough Already," her intense self-judgement began as early as her teenage years. "I had pretended to be the bubbly, upbeat all-American girl, but in private, I have rarely thought of myself as anything but a failure," she wrote (via People).

But as she's gotten older, the star has spent a lot of time reflecting on her true worth. Now, Bertinelli is setting aside endless beauty standards to embrace self-love at every age. "I'm done judging myself," she wrote in her memoir. "I want to be kinder and more accepting of myself." Her main tactic? Focusing on wellness and personality rather than surface-level good looks, which tend to fade with the years.

Over the course of her career, Valerie Bertinelli has re-evaluated her priorities and how she measures her own value. As she said in an appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in September 2024, "I used to hate my body. And what does that do to your body? What does that do to your brain?" In Bertinelli's case, self-recrimination brought nothing but years of pain and insecurity. But now, she's realized that her physical form is more than the sum of its appearance — it's a vessel for her truest self. She told Barrymore that she especially recognizes the value of her body now because it carries her brain and her heart, which are the true sources of beauty.

It's not always easy to stop comparing yourself to unrealistic beauty standards, especially as your body changes with the years, but Bertinelli thinks this process begins by recognizing your other admirable qualities. "Your beauty really is in your heart," she explained to New Beauty in 2026, adding that beauty comes through treating yourself and others well. She noted that people who feel good about themselves tend to have an inner glow that's impossible to ignore, and aging doesn't take it away.

Now, the actor has arrived at a place where she isn't going to let other people dictate her self-image. She knows her own worth and will celebrate it — no matter how old she is. As she declared to People in 2026, "I think you're allowed to feel good about yourself. I have felt bad about myself for too many decades. I'm going to feel good about myself now." While she's mentally changed her attitude towards beauty, she's also letting go of some old habits that supported her previous insecurities.

Before reframing her thoughts on beauty, Valerie Bertinelli spent years concerned with her appearance, even serving as a spokesperson for the weight-loss program Jenny Craig. Now that she views beauty differently, she's letting go of her old habits around self-obsessing, especially when it comes to her weight. "I don't like that I was part of that manipulation of our brains, of, we have to look a certain way," she said during another appearance on "The Drew Barrymore Show" in December 2024. "I'm a size 10. How is that too thin? I'm a size 10. How is that too fat? I'm just me. It's my body." This aligns with everything Valerie Bertinelli has said about her weight loss journey, which taught her to value more than the number on the scale — an especially important lesson for mature women, since it's harder to lose weight as you get older.

Age-wise, Bertinelli is also no longer hyper-focused on all the ways our skin changes during menopause and beyond. "My skin is crepey. It's sagging more," Bertinelli admitted to New Beauty. But apart from applying lotion and trying to stay hydrated, she refuses to fixate on these signs of aging. "I've spent far too many years hating my body for no reason whatsoever, except my internal self-loathing ... I'm just not gonna do that anymore."

Similarly, she's taking the image-conscious, youth-chasing edge out of her fitness regimen, focusing on her abilities over her appearance. She told People that she now does upper-body exercises to build muscle strength so she doesn't struggle to lift her own luggage into the overhead compartment while she's traveling. As she ages, she wants to retain her strength and independence, and that's a great example for older women to follow.