Why Valerie Bertinelli Almost Canned Her Upcoming Memoir

Memoirs are notoriously difficult to write and authors often confess that recalling painful life events can be too much to handle. Actress Valerie Bertinelli identified with this when writing her new memoir, "Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today." She felt that diving deep into her past was overwhelming at times.

Bertinelli revealed on talkshoplive that the combination of tragic and painful life events was almost too much for her to handle. While she answered live chat questions about her book, she shared how she almost couldn't go through with the memoir, "There were many times where I called and said, 'I can't do this, it's too personal.' People don't need to hear this. It was basically one, long therapy session getting through this book. 

Ultimately, Bertinelli decided to release the book because she recognized that it had the potential to help people who were going through tough times. "What I'm hoping that a lot of you will take away from this book is that your stories are incredibly similar to mine."

Bertinelli has lived through much heartache and grief in recent years, including the deaths of her brother, both parents, as well as her ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen. She believes Van Halen's death is something she will never fully get over. According to Rock Celebrities, she's also lived with her husband's Eddie Van Halen's addiction to alcohol and cigarettes for years, another painful topic she writes about in the book. He continued to smoke after being diagnosed with oral cancer, which is partly what lead her to divorce him in 2007. Bertinelli is currently separated from her second husband, Tom Vitale.

"Enough Already" isn't just about Bertinelli's losses. She also writes about aging, her ongoing body images issues, and how her self-image tied into her self-worth. "I learned at a very, very young age that gaining weight made me unlovable," she told USA Today. Bertinelli points out that changing your mindset on body issues is a slow process that takes time.

The key to healing is through revealing our truths. Bertinelli shared on the "Rachael Ray Show," saying, "I truly believe we are only as sick as our secrets and I just don't want to be sick anymore. I don't want to hold stuff in. When we let it out, when we can be more vulnerable, like Brené Brown says, there is strength and there is power in radical vulnerability."