‘I 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,’ said the Hot In Cleveland actress who spoke to USA TODAY.

‘This would not have happened three years ago, four years ago, last year ― it wouldn’t have,’ added the star who has gotten back in shape thanks to Pilates.

‘And I feel incredibly lucky to have met him and made a connection with him.’

Valerie Bertinelli revealed on Wednesday that she has fallen in love again. But the 63-year-old cookbook author shared that she would have never met this guy if she had not worked on herself first. Seen in a throwback photo where she said she was 150lbs

The One Day At A Time star spent three years sorting out her emotional baggage before she was ready to invite someone else in her life. ‘I 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,’ said the Hot In Cleveland actress; seen on Sunday

She did not name the man she has fallen for after divorcing Tom Vitale years ago.

Valerie shared her news to help promote her book Indulge which comes out in April.

Valerie also said this new man in her life ‘came out of left field,’ and she was surprised they were a fit.

The sitcom star filed for divorce from her second husband, financial planner Tom Vitale, in November of 2021.

Their divorce was finalized a year later, with a settlement that saw Valerie forced to fork over an eyewatering $2.2 million to Tom.

As recently as last June, she joked on TikTok that she replied to questions about whether she would ‘start dating again soon’ by saying: ‘Yeah, f*** no.’

Now, however, she has changed her mind – this Monday she re-posted the old TikTok to her Insta Stories and dished: ‘This didn’t age well.’

She then gave a glowing interview to USA Today about her new romance, though she refrained from offering any personal details about him such as his name.

‘I’ve met someone. And I’m incredibly grateful for him. It’s unlike any relationship that I’ve ever experienced with a man,’ she effervesced.

‘I don’t want to say too much, but I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have met him, because I wasn’t expecting it!’ she added.

She told USA TODAY: ‘This would not have happened three years ago, four years ago, last year ― it wouldn’t have,’ added the star who has gotten back in shape thanks to Pilates. ‘And I feel incredibly lucky to have met him and made a connection with him’

‘He was not on my radar. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it,’ the One Day At A Time star confessed. ‘So this came out of left field, and I’m grateful it did. He’s very special.’

With regards to her decision to announce the relationship on Instagram this week, she marveled: ‘What was I doing?…I just can’t help it.

‘When I’m flipping happy, it’s all over me, and he’s one of the main reasons.’

Valerie’s first husband was the legendary late rock star Eddie Van Halen, with whom she shares a now 32-year-old called Wolfgang.

She has been frank about her turbulent marriage to Eddie, which finally went up in flames in 2001 as his addictions took their toll on the relationship.

She began dating Tom Vitale in 2004 and married him in 2011, becoming a stepmother to his two sons and two daughters; they are pictured in 2012

Valerie’s first husband was the legendary late rock star Eddie Van Halen, with whom she shares a now 32-year-old called Wolfgang; Valerie and Eddie pictured in 1987

This comes a month after Bertinelli shared an empowering message with fans about body positivity and self-worth.

The actress revealed she stopped weighing herself after learning she was ‘considered overweight’ at 150 pounds – and sharped a throwback snap of herself looking incredible in a bikini at that weight.

Valerie defiantly described learning to embrace her character rather than the number on the scale.

Her new book is Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share

‘2014 #tbt This is a 150lb body on a 5’4 frame. I don’t weigh myself anymore because this is considered overweight by who’s standards I don’t know,’ she began in the caption.

‘It’s stupid and I believed them for far too long. I now, finally, know that I am a kind, considerate, funny, thoughtful woman. So please remember, who you are and what your character is, should never be overshadowed by what size you are or how much you weigh. You are enough. Just the way you are. F**k ‘em.’

A former Jenny Craig spokesperson, Valerie’s struggles with her weight have played out in the public.

In 2023, while promoting her upcoming cookbook Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share, Valerie described how her relationship with food has changed over the years – and how she no longer counts calories.

‘I no longer deny myself and instead indulge in the entire experience of cooking,’ Bertinelli told People. The actress is big on body positivity.

‘I have spent more than a decade changing my relationship with food,’ the Food Network star added.

‘All big leaps require baby steps, patience, forgiveness and a desire to grow and change.’

She lost 50lbs in 2009 and posed in a bikini for the cover of People

‘I have stopped counting calories, and I stopped thinking of certain foods as good or bad. I quit saying no and began saying yes.

‘And I let myself indulge,’ she adds. ‘I indulge in the pleasures of being alive, and food is one of those pleasures — an essential pleasure.

‘This cookbook marks the journey that I—and so many of us—have taken to get to this place where I no longer deny myself,’ she added.

In October, she posted video of herself wearing the same clothes she wore in her first ‘before photo’ as a Jenny Craig spokesperson.

‘Health is not a body size. Health is not the number you see on the scale. Your worth as a human being isn’t dictated by your body,’ she said while standing in front of the mirror, wearing a pink button-up shirt and jeans.

‘I thought I was fat the last time I wore these clothes,’ she said. And yet, ‘I’ve never felt more beautiful, more at peace, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today.’