Published Apr 24, 2024

After Losing Eddie Van Halen To Cancer, ‘Food Network’ Star Valerie Bertinelli Is Enjoying Life With New Man, Who Calls Their Relationship A ‘Gift’

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New Love After Divorce and Loss From Cancer

“Food Network” star Valerie Bertinelli’s new boyfriend has revealed himself as writer Mike Goodnough—and he wrote the sweetest essay this week, revealing he thinks their flourishing relationship is a “gift.”
We’re delighted Bertinelli has following for another man after an emotional road of grief after her divorce from estranged husband Tom Vitale and losing her ex-husband guitarist Eddie Van Halen to throat cancer.
While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. For others, support groups or turning to faith may be helpful.
Whichever methods of support you look for after loss, you should know that there is no correct way to grieve. There is no perfect timeline for grieving, either.

“Food Network” star Valerie Bertinelli, 63, who lost her ex husband Eddie Van Halen to cancer, is infusing courage in anyone looking for love following divorce or a loved one’s passing from cancer, as her new relationship with writer Mike Goodnough appears to be going well.

Bertinelli, who previously kept her new boyfriend’s identity hidden, has confirmed she’s dating Goodnough, a writer from the East Coast. She took to her Instagram story this week to reshare a post from Goodnough’s social media pages, promoting an essay he penned to “address recent tabloid reports of an alleged romantic entanglement between me and a certain well-known Hollywood personality.”

She also posted a paparazzi image of the two of them walking on Instagram’s Threads, writing alongside it, “Hiding in plain sight.”

In Goodnough’s lengthy essay, shared on his Hoarse Whisperings Substack, an online publishing platform, on Wednesday, he revealed, “So, anyway, there you have it. Somewhat bonkers though it may be, the rumor is true. Valerie and I are together and have been for a while now. She was the person I was referring to in “Some Personal… News?” and in my last post (‘We Interrupt This Interrupted Broadcast’) as well.

“I assume nearly all of you already knew that. Well, now, you all do. I am Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend… and that may well be among the most surreal sentences I’ve ever pecked out.”

“But it’s true… and nothing about our actual relationship seems surreal. It just seems… good… lucky… a gift,” he admitted.

Goodnough, who describes himself on Substack as a father and late-starting writer, continued in his heartwarming essay,” Life is crazy, kids. It just is. It’ll rain hellfire down on you for years and bring you to your knees… and then it’ll open the skies to deep blue and love and calling someone ‘Honey’ because you just love the absolute hell out of her and feel so very thankful for the gift of that feeling, the gift of her.

“So, the little rumor going around, consider it happily confirmed. I just adore her. I’m so glad we’re together.”

As for anyone new to Goodnough’s Substack page, he offered some insight into what he writes about, explaining, “If you are one of them, welcome! I hope you find enough here you enjoy to stick around. While this feed centers on the often absurdly personal things I write about, my posts are often just an invitation to conversation among a pretty great little community of people who have gathered here.

“I write a lot about life and loss and love; joy and grief; hardship, long tunnels with little light on the other side… and then making it through them. I’m an open book… and that often leads people to be open themselves in the comments.

Social media is such a snakepit. Somehow, this little thing we’ve built here is different. It is an oasis of good people with good hearts who are kind and caring and supportive of both me and each other.”

We’re delighted to see Goodnough and Bertinelli embarking on their new relationship journey and look forward to seeing their happiness instill hope in others when love after loss doesn’t seem possible.

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A post shared by Valerie Bertinelli (@wolfiesmom)

The big news followed the “One Day At A Time” actress’ recent interview with People, where she admitted, “I’m in love. Its a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant I was never falling in love again..

“I was supposed to die with my six cats and my dog … and very happily live the rest of my years alone. I’m good alone.”

The TV personality, who recently published her new cookbook, “Indulge: Delicious and Decadent Dishes to Enjoy and Share,” kept Goodnough’s identity hidden at the time but insisted, “My belly is flip-flopping. This was not supposed to happen.”

Valerie Bertinelli On Losing Her Soulmate

Is only natural for Valerie Bertinelli to continue mourning Eddie Van Halen and the meaningful time they spent together, as she often takes to social media to share photos of Van Halen and other family members.

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A post shared by Valerie Bertinelli (@wolfiesmom)

Van Halen and Bertinelli were married from 1981 to 2007 and had one child together named Wolfgang, 33. Despite their separation, Bertinelli called Van Halen her “soulmate.”

“I just don’t feel like I’ve ever been loved like that, in that way, from anybody else,” she’s previously said. “I just feel a connection with Ed that I’ve never really felt with anyone else.”

Although their relationship was turbulent over the years, the two did reach “a beautiful place together” before Van Halen’s passing. Looking back on it all, Bertinelli says their time together taught her an invaluable lesson.

“Love,” she previously explained. “If there’s nothing else in this world, go back to that key point that you know you have inside you, that you know that you feel for the people that are closest to you. That love. Love always wins no matter what, even when they’re gone.

“There’s still that love there to be grateful for that you had.”

Moving Through Grief

Grief is certainly difficult, truly personal process, something Bertinelli has shown. Some find solace in vulnerability and sharing how they feel with others.

‘Therapy Saved My Life’: After Losing A Loved One, Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

While working through grief and vulnerable tackling of the emotions that accompany it, some find tools like therapy to be helpful. Support groups can also be a benefit for those who are feeling isolated in their feelings of grief. Faith can also be a powerful coping mechanism for some.

Whichever methods of support you look for after cancer loss, you should know that there is no correct way to grieve. There is no perfect timeline for grieving, either.

The Power of Love

Love is all around us. We don’t have to have a significant other to give or feel love from others. The history of love in our own family can be something fulfilling for us, giving us stories that we can cherish.

SurvivorNet previously spoke with a family who shared a story of their parents’ love during World War II, and an amazing keepsake the family has from that time. A lovebox.

SurvivorNetTV Presents Lovebox A Love Story for the Ages

Surviving the Loss of a Partner

Fighting your own cancer battle is one of the toughest experiences in life; watching the disease take someone you love is a different kind of pain. In some cases, a spouse with cancer can take proactive steps to talk about what might come after.

“I Don’t Want to Move On; I Do Want To Move Forward”: Doug Wendt On Being A Caregiver and Tragically Losing His Wife to Ovarian Cancer

“She wanted to make sure that I knew that it was OK, she really wanted me to have another relationship after she was gone,” one widower told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview.

Meanwhile, John Duberstein lost his wife, writer Nina Riggs, to metastatic triple negative breast cancer. He says that while he was watching her suffer from the disease, he couldn’t help but wish things could go back to normal â€¦ but Riggs had already embraced her new normal.

“I really wanted things to go back to normal, whatever that meant,” Duberstein told SurvivorNet. “She was not for that. She wanted to embrace the existence that she had, even before she knew she was going to die imminently. I did not want to talk about what was going to happen with me after Nina died. Nina is the one that really brought it up, she brought it up a number of times.”

Dating After Cancer; Getting Intimate with the New You

Duberstein explained that even with the pain of losing his wife, and even though he didn’t want to talk about it at the time, he’s so glad they had those seemingly uncomfortable conversations. “In retrospect, I can’t even explain how glad I am that I had that.”

This is a reminder that having those uncomfortable and painful conversations with your partner can be fundamental to your well-being as you move forward in the grieving process, alleviating the guilt felt in starting to date again, and/or eventually marry.