Valerie Bertinelli on Her Emotional Return to Acting After ‘Worst Year of My Life’ (Exclusive)

0:00 Well, listen, I have to say somebody should

0:01 have warned me before I watched this movie.

0:04 a box of tissues.

0:05 Because I did not know it was going to hit me right here.

0:07 I mean, this movie deals with so much stuff.

0:09 It deals with a couple's love.

0:11 It deals with um finding love again.

0:14 All of those centered around yes, [music] centered around Alzheimer's.

0:18 Mhm.

0:18 You don't understand.

0:19 I can't do it.

0:20 I mean, did you ever consider putting your wife

0:22 someplace where other people would take care of her?

0:24 No, but I had her family helping me and I'm a doctor.

0:29 Don't you think Henry would want someone to help you, to comfort you?

0:33 He wouldn't want you to be alone through this.

0:35 I love a Lifetime movie, but a lot of times I try to watch them because I want

0:39 to watch something fun and mindless and where I can just get [music] away,

0:42 but this was something that you really sat with for a minute.

0:45 I don't know if after you saw it [music] again, Eric.

0:48 I I loved the complexity of it.

0:50 It's not there's nothing black and white.

0:52 But it it it it doesn't apologize for how complex human

0:55 emotions are and timing the timing of things is not always easy.

0:59 [music] When your wife was sick, did other women comfort you?

1:03 That was different.

1:05 How was that different?

1:06 was.

1:07 I love my husband.

1:11 You loved your wife.

1:12 How is it different?

1:13 We're talking about Alzheimer's,

1:14 but we're also talking about early onset Alzheimer's because one of the things

1:19 [music]

1:18 you know, you think about that that doesn't enter

1:21 the conversation all the time is that sometimes it happens early.

1:23 I mean, he's 60 in the movie and and you know, you think

1:27 Thanks for making that distinction.

1:31 Cuz not not in the movie.

1:32 31 in the movie.

1:33 He was 31 IN THE MOVIE.

1:35 [laughter] WELL, LISTEN, YOU YOU HAVE THE spirit of a 35-year-old Henry.

1:41 I'm working on it.

1:42 I'm trying to mature every day.

1:44 Listen, you are a silver fox.

1:45 We love a silver fox baby around here, okay?

1:49 I wonder though because you know,

1:52 the topic [music] of Alzheimer's really is more pervasive in society right now.

1:56 Have any of you ever dealt with it in your real life?

1:58 Was it something that you could draw from?

2:00 Or even maybe being a caregiver, yeah.

2:02 I have watched people, you know, that I love [music] um slowly get destroyed

2:07 by caregiving and my dad did did not have Alzheimer's,

2:10 but he did have sundowners.

2:12 So, there was a certain time that it was

2:13 very just challenging to to find [music] him there.

2:16 So, um I I do not have any personal

2:19 um experience with that per se, but the grief, [music]

2:23 the the challenges of caretaking and all that I definitely have some history of.

2:27 Nobody tells Melanie Moretti what to do.

2:30 I'm out of here.

2:31 And ma'am, this is your first time back since Hot in Cleveland, correct?

2:35 I know [music] I yes, I don't I I had How long had it been since I had acted?

2:42 Over four years.

2:43 Yeah, and I did a pilot before that.

2:45 So, it was really

2:49 [music] fun to get into a character and to feel someone like her whole heart,

2:53 everything about Caroline is so vulnerable [music] and it was really really fun

2:57 to play and especially when I got to play with these two guys.

3:00 Were you nervous at all getting back in the groove?

3:02 Yeah.

3:02 Oh my god, I cuz I thought I I [music] can't I almost said a bad word.

3:07 I can't screw this up because it it hinges on [music]

3:11 the the complexities of love and caring

3:14 and and you can't you want to root [music]

3:17 for all three of these characters and I just didn't want to do any harm to that.

3:21 We all know what it's like to have to deal

3:24 with some sort of grief or loss or any of that.

3:27 yeah.

3:27 Yeah, when you like you know how to tap into it.

3:29 I mean, you're like an open book in so many ways.

3:31 I think you said 2024 was the toughest Worst year of my life.

3:34 year of your life.

3:35 Why [music] why?

3:38 Oh, well, read my book.

3:41 I mean, it's great, by the way.

3:43 Four surgeries Thank you, Henry.

3:44 Four surgeries in one year.

3:46 I was dealing with a lot of complicated

3:48 issues [music] of family issues, grief, um fear,

3:54 all kinds of stuff and I'm [music] so

3:58 I hesitate to say happy, but I'm so grateful

4:02 [music] that I went through that year because here we are

4:04 two years later and I feel like a different person.

4:07 I behave as a different person.

4:08 I believe in myself [music] in a different way that I never did before.

4:11 So, I'm I'm grateful I went through it.

4:14 There's going to be somebody at home that's watching this [music] that says,

4:16 I can identify with that.

4:18 How did she get to the other side?

4:20 Where did she go to to start to heal

4:23 and and then what is the new chapter look like?

4:26 Yeah, well, it it's all about finding

4:28 that initial shame in your life that allows

4:32 someone else [music] to then use your shame as a weapon to hurt you.

4:35 And I was determined to not ever let that happen to me again.

4:40 So, I dug down to that original shame.

4:41 I ended up using [music] EMDR.

4:43 A girlfriend of mine turned turned me on to it

4:46 and found me a great therapist and and really getting down

4:49 to the nitty-gritty and really [music] finding a way to make friends

4:53 with all of the things that we used to feel ashamed about.

4:56 Like I know that I can be a jealous person,

4:58 but I also know that I can feel happy for people.

5:00 It's a dialectical way of thinking that I can

5:03 hold something about myself that might bring me shame,

5:06 but I also know that I can as well

5:07 hold something that makes me feel good about myself.

5:10 So, the shame doesn't have to overpower that.

5:12 I [music] Don't y'all Like I I was going to say that I was going to say that.

5:17 [laughter] As a matter of fact, Eric and I wrote it for her yesterday.

5:19 Nice Nicely done.

5:20 You forgot the part where I Oh, okay.

5:23 I'll try to I'll let you guys do that part.

5:24 No, she That's That's Valerie.

5:29 I'm going to take a little bit of a left turn here because I got to ask you,

5:33 Eric, because we still like I still can't get enough of [music] Will& Grace.

5:37 I watch old episodes.

5:39 the best.

5:39 Both both Both eras.

5:42 Yeah.

5:42 I love both eras.

5:43 100%.

5:44 It's it's my jam.

5:45 Yeah.

5:45 What's gay, beautiful, and just got rich for doing nothing?

5:51 [cheering and laughter]

5:52 Jared Kushner?

5:54 It's me.

5:57 Do you think that like Will& Grace

5:59 walked so like heated rivalry could [music] run?

6:02 Oh, hell yeah.

6:03 Well, sure.

6:04 I mean, we we kept trying to do a hockey episode and nobody wanted it back then.

6:11 Um Fools.

6:12 Fools.

6:13 The conversations we're having around heated rivalry

6:16 now are so very normalized and right.

6:18 And I do think Will& Grace did a long [music] went a long way into making that.

6:23 There was a time where we normalized it at least for comic television.

6:28 Can you please tell me that you're okay with people coming up

6:31 and still like telling you their favorite episode and loving this and like,

6:35 you know, because sometimes people can be like, okay, yeah,

6:38 I did Will& Grace, yeah, but because we love it so much.

6:41 He was a little testy with me.

6:43 Was he?

6:43 Yeah.

6:43 But that's normal.

6:44 But you You called Henry.

6:46 I know.

6:46 I craved that and that's my shame I carry it, but I'm done with it.

6:49 But you called me a lot.

6:51 Well, [laughter]

6:52 and I don't You said You gave me your number.

6:54 What do you expect?

6:55 Has there been though like a meaningful

6:57 fan encounter [music] that you've had you know,

7:00 attached to the series that just that maybe stays with you?

7:03 Oh, I mean, it's always These are my two favorites.

7:07 The one extreme is just people that will always that say,

7:10 I came out to my parents because they watched your show.

7:13 I've heard that so many times.

7:14 My other favorite is is just I was in a parking lot [music] once and I

7:17 could see a guy recognize me and he started to run towards me and I'm like,

7:20 do I I guess I wait I wait cuz he really really

7:24 wants to tell me and he finally got over and he said, Thank you for waiting.

7:28 I just had to tell you, [music] Sean Hayes IS A GENIUS.

7:32 [laughter] REALLY?

7:35 THANKS FOR ALLOWING ME TO [laughter] THAT'S AMAZING.

7:42 He is.

7:43 And he is.

7:44 Yes.

7:44 Just chat.

7:47 Now, um Henry, I'm going to make your 45-year-old good-looking self

7:50 feel even even worse because it's the 15th anniversary of Revenge.

7:55 Wow.

7:58 anniversary.

7:58 Wow, tempus fugit.

7:59 I must be having a great time in life.

8:01 what I'm saying?

8:02 like yesterday.

8:03 The people that I worked with gorgeous.

8:05 I still go out with the guys all the boys of Revenge.

8:09 We go to Joshua Tree almost like every second year.

8:11 We have a reunion and chat about how things are going, yeah.

8:14 Burning man.

8:15 Yeah, well I sometimes they try and burn me.

8:20 [laughter]

8:19 But burning burning Henry, we call it.

8:21 Can you see Henry at Burning Man?

8:23 Oh, absolutely.

8:24 Amazing.

8:25 Yep.

8:25 [laughter] Wow.

8:28 This is really good music.

8:32 [music] The authorities will be arriving any minute.

8:35 Well, I won't [music] waste my energy throwing you out.

8:37 We live in the land of reboots and revisits and reimagining.

8:41 Could we ever [music] do Revenge?

8:44 Uh sure, depending on what they want to explore within it.

8:47 Wait, no.

8:48 Hot in Cleveland needs a reboot.

8:51 Yes.

8:51 I mean, come on.

8:52 I don't know what there's like Stage is right over there.

8:54 You shot it right here on this lot.

8:56 on this this lot.

8:57 This is the rapid lot where we shot Hot in Cleveland.

9:00 And Will& Grace was there.

9:01 Yes, Will& Grace was there.

9:03 Wow, guys, really nice.

9:04 They're going TO BE BROKE AFTER THEY'RE NOT GOING TO have

9:06 any money left after [laughter] these two have their shows.

9:09 That's right.

9:09 So, welcome home, YouTube.

9:11 I don't know what to do without Betty,

9:11 mean, I would die to work with Betty White.

9:14 I don't know.

9:15 I know.

9:16 I don't know.

9:17 I don't know.

9:18 Yeah.

9:18 I can dress up.

9:19 There [laughter] you go.

9:21 I don't have her wit.

9:22 The The journey to a cranky old woman for you is not that Not hard.

9:26 Not very far at all.

9:30 You know, I often think when I talk to actors who have children,

9:33 I often think that it's odd that the kids don't go

9:37 into show business because I feel like it runs in the DNA.

9:40 did.

9:40 Yeah, yours did.

9:41 Eric, your son Finnegan is is um you know,

9:44 stepping into playing the younger you in in The Hunting Party.

9:48 He did an episode of a of an NBC show called

9:49 The Hunting Party where he played the younger me quite reluctantly,

9:52 but uh but he was great.

9:55 Were you stage dad or were you able to just step back and let him do his thing?

9:59 We were never in the same scene because we were the same person.

10:01 So, I would Yeah, I was standing [music] behind the monitors kind of going

10:08 [laughter] Right?

10:08 You got a goofy, funny face.

10:10 I just can't help it.

10:11 Yeah.

10:12 You do.

10:12 It's like the pride is just like oozes.

10:16 So, Mother's Day's right around the corner.

10:18 All right.

10:19 Do you have any Do you have a special Mother's

10:20 Day that stands out that you guys have [music] had?

10:23 Oh, my All of them.

10:24 Yeah.

10:25 I just like all of them.

10:28 I'm so proud to be his mother.

10:30 I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be

10:32 his mom and that he has [music] found his person.

10:34 I love my daughter-in-law.

10:36 I could I could It brings me Even during my [music] worst year in 2024,

10:40 I was so happy in the pockets of joy

10:42 I got to spend with my son and daughter-in-law.

10:45 It's It's the best.