“Hidden bruises are something that emotional, verbal, mental abuse do to you that people can’t see,” the 62-year-old explained.
Valerie Bertinelli is continuing to talk about healing from a past trauma she endured as a result of her past relationships. The Food Network star opened up about "hidden bruises" she "activated" after putting on a pair of pants that she was previously ridiculed for wearing. She explained in a brief video she posted on Instagram which she filmed as she walked while the pants she wore rubbed together a bit making a swooshing sound with each stride.
"I'm giggling because I had a small hidden bruise that was activated today. You can probably hear them because my pants are rubbing together and it makes this particular sound," she said. "I stopped wearing them because I was…mercilessly mocked, you know, 'I'm too lazy to do anything about it. They wouldn't rub together if you...'" she trailed off. At one point, she said she even tried to change the way she walked to silence the pants, according to TODAY. But now she feels liberated to wear them again. "Now I can wear them, hear that sound and that’s the sound of freedom," she said with a smile.
The Kids Baking Championship star explained that "hidden bruises are something that emotional, verbal, mental abuse do to you. People can't see [them] but we got to deal with [them] every day when they're activated." She added, "I'm so grateful the work that I'm doing on healing, is working."
Bertinelli's posts about healing from traumatic relationships come about after her marriage to ex-husband Tom Vitale ended last year. After her divorce was finalized, she celebrated what she called “the second-best day of her life.” Ever since then, Bertinelli has been candidly speaking about the hardships that she faced after splitting from her ex-husband. Once she even said in an Instagram video, how "some women get so lost in trying to make their partner feel so loved, so respected that they've lost any kind of love or respect that they have for themselves.”
Valerie Bertinelli is now looking forward to a life filled with joy and self-love but every once in a while she does reflect on her past. According to PEOPLE, she said that she used to feel not so "worthy" in the past. "I have been screamed at so many times and told how fat and lazy I am," Bertinelli said. "I realize…that was someone just projecting on me whatever they needed to project on me, but my part in all of it was believing it, and I don't believe it anymore. But it still doesn't stop the feelings from coming up and the hurt," she added. "So that's what we're doing today. We're feeling the feelings and letting them go. Giving them a voice," she continued before concluding by saying that "my core is happiness and joy, and it gets covered with the stupid things people say to me that I started to believe."
References:
https://www.today.com/health/mind-body/valerie-bertinelli-opens-healing-emotional-trauma-rcna70415
https://people.com/food/valerie-bertinelli-recalls-finding-texts-being-called-fat-lazy/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Gustavo Caballero
