Valerie Bertinelli re-wears her 'fat clothes' from weight loss ad: 'Never felt more beautiful'
Valerie Bertinelli is reflecting on her past correlation between her weight and self-worth.
The "Valerie's Home Cooking" alum posted a video on Instagram Monday as she wore a pink button-down shirt and blue jeans that she had on for her "first 'before' picture with Jenny Craig."
Since being a brand representative for the now-defunct weight loss company, Bertinelli said in the clip that she's "done so much emotional and mental work to recover from years of pretending everything was OK when it wasn't."
"Health is not body size. Health is not that number you see on a scale," she stressed to her followers. "Your worth as a human being isn't dictated by your body."
The Food Network star continued, "I thought I was fat the last time I wore these clothes. I've never felt more beautiful, more at peace, more mentally and emotionally stable than I do today and I’m wearing my 'fat clothes.'"
In her caption, Bertinelli said she's done "a lot of emotional and mental purging" and gotten rid of clothes "that no longer bring me joy" since her divorce from financial planner Tom Vitale was finalized in November.
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"I don't know why I kept them, but now I'm glad I did. It’s nice to see how far I’ve come emotionally," she continued, adding that she is no longer using food to alcohol as a coping mechanism.
She added: "I am enough."
Bertinelli closed her post by telling fans, "Please love yourself, every single part of you. YOU ARE ENOUGH."
The cookbook author previously opened up about prioritizing her health after her divorce from Vitale was finalized.
"Back in November, I really started concentrating on my emotional and mental health," she wrote in an Instagram caption in June. The harsh words and abuse can never be unheard and taken back, but here's the thing, I wouldn't have taken them in and believed them in the first place, if I hadn’t been saying harsh and unkind words to myself first."
Bertinelli shared that a combination of therapy, journaling and meditation allowed her to reflect on how she was treating herself and her body.
"I have cut back exponentially on alcohol and I’m sure that has helped with releasing the weight I was carrying for protection. And it did protect me. I'm grateful for that," she wrote. "I don't need protection any longer. I'm really starting to love myself. Deep down. All this to say I have a lot to talk about and will continue to do so. Thank you for coming on this journey with me. Please be kind to yourselves. You deserve it. We all do. We are enough."
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