Mike Goodnough is hoping to clear the air about his much-buzzed-about split from Valerie Bertinelli.
Last Friday, Goodnough opened up about his “complicated relationship” with Bertinelli in a lengthy Instagram post, noting there were “external” obstacles that prevented him and the actor-turned-celebrity-chef from enjoying a more stable romance.
“The one thing that was never an issue was our love for each other,” the lifestyle writer explained. “I loved Valerie more than I’ve ever loved someone in a relationship of choice. (My love for my son is a whole different thing).”
Describing the demise of his relationship with Bertinelli as “by far the most painful experience of my life,” Goodnough said he reached out to his ex last week in hopes of finding “a way to a gentle parting rather than a closed door,” but never heard back.
“No answer is an answer though. I accept it,” he wrote. “With that said, this chapter is now closed for me. … I’ve cried about this enough. It’s time to move on.”
Elsewhere in the post, Goodnough expressed regret over recent comments that had ignited a fresh wave of speculation about his breakup with Bertinelli.
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He appeared to be alluding to a since-deleted April 1 Instagram post in which he’d accused his ex of “lapsing into a place where she has been playing a one-woman tennis match thinking there is someone on the other side of the net.”
On Sunday, Goodnough replied to a Threads user who criticized his remarks as they’d appeared in a recent People article and suggested that Bertinelli had left him.
“I ended the relationship,” he wrote. “You tried though. You really tried.”
A representative for Bertinelli did not immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Bertinelli, who previously hosted “Valerie’s Home Cooking” and “Kids Baking Championship” on the Food Network, was married to rock musician Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007. In 2011, she and financier Tom Vitale tied the knot, but split about 11 years later.
She first confirmed her romance with Goodnough in a March 2024 interview with People to promote her latest cookbook, “Indulge.”
“It’s unlike any relationship that I’ve ever experienced with a man,” she said, noting that the pair had been communicating via Instagram before they began dating. “He was not on my radar. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it. So this came out of left field, and I’m grateful it did. He’s very special.”
The pair went on to make their red carpet debut in June at the 2024 Daytime Emmy Awards, but by November, the relationship had come to a end.
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