Valerie Bertinelli shares a “vulnerable” experience with her fans.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Nov. 17, the 64-year-old Food Network alum told her fans that she suffered an anxiety attack.
“I sat on this post for a day because it’s incredibly vulnerable and that’s always scary to share,” Valerie’s Home Cooking wrote the host. “But I’m posting because we’re all here doing our best to have a human experience and none of us want to feel like we’re alone.”
Bertinelli – who recently split from boyfriend Mike Goodnough after 10 months of dating – then went into detail, explaining what happened. “So I don’t know if you can tell from this video (and my heart is still beating a little fast as I write this) that I had a really bad anxiety attack today,” she began.
“I haven’t felt like this for a very, very long time. A few hours ago I was crying uncontrollably, and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. I couldn’t stop shaking,” she continued. .
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She said she “jumped at the opportunity” to share her experience, but she wanted to because she’s “pretty sure I’m not the only one here who has experienced this.”
“Luckily, those attacks have become much less frequent, so this one surprised me a little today,” she noted. “This is an aftereffect.”
Bertinelli went on to explain that during an anxiety attack, she disassociates and “focuses solely on calming down and finding any way to a more relaxed and peaceful body.”
She said she knows her brain is overthinking, but her body is “overreacting” and can’t control the situation. “Hours later, while doing my best to meditate and EMDR [Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing] my way out of this, this is an aftereffect that I can’t quite put to rest yet,” she continued, referring to a clip she shared of her hand shaking.
Valerie Bertinelli in June 2024.
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
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“Part of me is fascinated by what the human body is capable of when our emotions can get in the way or override any rational thought, and another part of me is just curious as to how it all happens,” Bertinelli continued, speaking of “the strange neuropathies in our brain and how they affect our bodies, what are these sensations (which are just information btw) and why they are so powerful that they make our body accelerate excessively.”
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She then asked her followers if she was the only one who had experienced these effects of anxiety attacks, along with what they found helpful in calming them down.
“Anyway… this bit of vulnerability is brought to you by someone who wants you to know you’re not alone,” she concluded her post. “I love you 🤍.”
Bertinella’s candid Instagram post comes after she told PEOPLE about the biggest change she noticed after quitting drinking for six months.
“Even with life’s struggles and how challenging life can be, I find it’s easier to quickly figure out what I need to do and take care of my life,” she said in July. “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?’ ”
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