Valerie Bertinelli Shares Heartwarming Birthday Message for Her Boyfriend: ‘You’re Still Younger Than Me’

Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend is still a year older, but as she joked in a new birthday tribute, he still hasn’t caught up with her!

The Let yourself go author, 64, wished her boyfriend Mike Goodnough a happy 54th birthday on Instagram on Saturday, August 17, while poking fun at how they both love taking selfies.

Paying tribute to Goodnough, who goes by the name Hoarse Whisperer on social media, Bertinelli shared a selfie of the pair getting dressed up as she kissed him on the cheek. The photo came complete with a beautiful sky in the background, which Bertinelli also joked about in her caption.

“If there’s one thing about Mike (there are many) he doesn’t like backlighting,” she wrote. “I, on the other hand, think the backlighting is beautiful. As evidenced by this picture… taken by Mike.”

“Sometimes it pays to listen to the elders,” added Bertinelli. “Happy birthday Mike ♥️ You may be a year older, but you’re still younger than me 😆.”

Valerie Bertinelli kisses Mike Goodnough in her birthday tribute to him on August 17, 2024.

Valerie Bertinelli/Instagram

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Bertinelli also posted a shot of her boyfriend dressed in his all-black suit on her Instagram Stories, with the simple caption: “Happy Birthday Mike.”

The couple’s latest milestone marks the former Food Network star celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday for the first time since their relationship began in January. Bertinelli was initially private about their relationship in the beginning, telling PEOPLE in April that she was “in love,” but didn’t reveal Goodnough’s name at the time.

“It’s a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant that I would never fall in love again,” she said, explaining that she met her East Coast boyfriend on Instagram a few years ago. “It was purely platonic, but there was something about him that I associated with what I was familiar with.”

Only at the beginning of 2024 did their conversations and feelings become romantic. “The comfort level is crazy,” she added. “It feels incredibly right.”

Valerie Bertinelli and Mike Goodnough at the Daytime Emmy Awards in June 2024.

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

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The couple went public not long after when they stepped out together in April, and have been gushing about each other on social media and in interviews ever since, eventually making their red carpet debut at the Daytime Emmys in June.

Bertinelli and Goodnough even instituted a “three week” rule at the beginning of their relationship to stay connected during their two-bedroom relationship. “We never go longer than that without seeing each other,” she said then. Four months later, Bertinelli updated PEOPLE.

“It was challenging,” she said in July. “The summer is full. It’s challenging.”

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The duo have continued to speak publicly about their relationship, with Goodnough revealing on Instagram this week that Bertinelli supported him when his childhood friend was “nearing the end of his life” in March. As he noted, his partner canceled “family plans that were important to her” to be with him.

“There are people who show you care and people who just tell you they do. Take careful note of each one,” he wrote. “Hold close to the first and make room for the others. The first – the people who are there for you – are life’s richest blessing. Cherish them, because they are treasures.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education