Although a celebrity with a long running career and the wife of a rock star, she has more recently become know as the face of Jenny Craig, the slimming company, by replacing their former celebrity endorser, Kirstie Alley.

Valerie Betinelli was born on April 23^rd 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware to Italian Catholic parents Nancy and Andy. She grew up as the only daughter with one older brother and two younger brothers.

Part of her early life was spent in Delaware and until the family moved to Michigan where Valerie’s father was an executive for General Motors. Later the family relocated to Van Nuys, California. In California Valerie studied at the Tami Lynn School of Artists and entered the world of child modeling at just eleven years of age when she appeared in a commercial for J C Penny the department store.

In her early days in California and in the world of acting Valerie dated movie mogul Steven Spielberg and later went on to marry the guitarist from the band Van Halen, Eddie Van Halen, on April 11^th 1981.

With one of the longest running marriages in Hollywood it came as a shock to fans when Valerie announced that she and Eddie were parting company in October 2001. Together they had one son Wolfgang born in 1961. The couple’s divorce became final in December 2006.

Since 2004 Bertinelli has been dating Tom Vitale and during that time she has gradually gained weight which saw her becoming the face of Jenny Craig when she was put on Craig’s weight loss program and appeared on her television commercials. She lost a total of 37 lbs by the end of 2007.

During her acting career Valerie played the role of Barbara Cooper for nine years, daughter of Bonnie Franklin on the soap opera One Day at a Time. In the show's first season, Bertinelli was 15 and her character was written as a tomboy, but during the second season she blossomed into a lovely young woman, and the show's male demographic increased proportionally. Ratings peaked when Bertinelli's character was married in a very special 1982 episode.

With her long running role on One Day at a Time came an equally long running association with her on screen sister, Mama’s and Papa’s singer Mackenzie Phillips. When it was revealed that Phillips had an acute drug problem, reportedly, Bertinelli's response was to stop speaking to Phillips for several years, except for scripted lines in character.

During and after One Day at a Time's Valerie was frequently cast as long suffering woman in peril which saw her playing a young widow whose husband was killed in the Vietnam war; a woman with a serious gambling problem; a young nun in love with a priest; a woman who must decide whether to testify against her brother-in-law in a rape trial, among numerous other melodramatic roles.

One of Bertinelli’s best known roles came as the angel Gloria in the series, Touched by an Angel where she starred alongside Roma Downey and Della Reese.

Valerie’s father has the claim to fame as having worked on the construction of the Channel Tunnel which runs under the English channel between England and France.

ABB