Valerie Bertinelli Opens Up About Sobriety Journey Amid Relationship With Mike Goodnough

Valerie Bertinelli opened up about how much her life has changed since giving up alcohol six months ago.

“Even with life struggles and how life can be challenging, I find that it is easier to get myself clearer faster, about what I need to do and taking care of my life,” she told People in an interview published on Sunday, July 21. “I feel good when I wake up in the morning. I’m not groggy. I’m not tired. I’m not: ‘What did I do last night?’”

Valerie, 64, previously told the outlet that she once used food and alcohol for “soothing and ignoring” her problems.

“I think it’s important to really not numb emotional pain,” the Golden Globe winner candidly shared. “Emotions are information. When I decided to really question why I was having a certain emotion, I was able to — most of the time — walk through it and get to the other side.”

She went on to explain that alcohol “amplified” the “sadness” in her life during difficult times.

“I don’t think I ever really had a problem [with alcohol] and that’s why it was a bit, I don’t want to say easy, but it was an easier path for me to start with dry January,” she said in the update. “And then go, ‘Well, I’m halfway through February, now I might as well just keep going.’ And now for me, I kind of make a game of it.”

The Hot in Cleveland alum went public with her romance with her boyfriend, Mike Goodnough, in April after hinting at her relationship the month prior. Mike also revealed that he stopped drinking alcohol in a comment underneath Valerie’s Instagram post.

“Funny how we both just randomly decided to stop drinking only weeks before we met each other,” he penned.

She reflected on how her decision to stop drinking alcohol was strongly influenced by what she hopes for herself in the future.

“I say all the time, ‘If I’m lucky, I have 20 more years left,’ and I want them to be the best years of my life. And I don’t want to be doing what I’ve been doing the last 64 years,” Valerie said. “I want a better, cleaner, cooler, more exciting way to knock out the last 20.”

Valerie told the outlet that she initially thought about going sober while writing her 2022 memoir, Enough Already, amid her messy divorce from her second husband, Tom Vitale.

“I was still going through a lot of crap, and I knew that I wanted to be on the road of intentionally finding my core happiness,” she remarked.

Ultimately, Valerie has found sobriety to be not as complicated and intense as she thought it was going to be.

“I’m actually shocked at how hard it’s not,” the Food Network alum said. “Because for a long time, I leaned on it. Right now, I love how I feel more than how the alcohol makes me feel.”