Actress and former Jenny Craig spokesperson Valerie Bertinelli called herself out for her role in perpetuating so-called “diet culture,” stating, “I became part of the problem,” and that today she is receiving “karma” for her actions, as people on the internet are now telling her to lose weight.
On Thursday, Bertinelli shared a video of herself responding to an online commenter who told her she “need[s] to lose weight.”
“See, I don’t have a scale or I don’t have clothes that I’m trying to put on every day, and I don’t have mirrors, so I don’t see what’s become of me,” said a tearful Bertinelli. “So I needed that help to let me know that I need to lose weight. You’re not being helpful.”
“If I could lose the weight, and keep it off, I would. But since I haven’t been successful with that my whole entire life, at 61, I’m still dealing with it,” said the one Day at a Time star, who became a Jenny Craig spokeswoman in 2007.
“You think I’m not tired of it, lady? Where’s the compassion?” Bertinelli added. “You think a stupid little comment, like, ‘You need to lose weight’ — not fucking helpful.”
One Twitter user reacted to her video, writing, “Sorry Valerie Bertinelli — you spent decades telling the rest of us to get thin, shilled weight loss shakes, potions & snake oil & NOW wanna be a body shaming warrior? You don’t get to be a victim when you helped create the problem. Grow up if you can’t take the heat.”
“I’m not a victim. I can take the heat,” Bertinelli responded on Saturday. “I made the video so I could get my feelings out instead of squashing them down and eating them, which is what I usually do.”
In a follow-up tweet, the Food network star went on to call herself out for “buying into the diet industry,” claiming that she “became part of the problem,” and now receives “karma” for her actions.
“Yes, I spent 6 years ‘shilling’ for Jenny Craig. (your math’s a little off) I have been buying into the diet industry my whole life and then I became part of the problem, so here I am today receiving the karma of my actions,” Bertinelli tweeted.
“You can go ahead and judge all you like. However, I can warn you, from experience, that kind of karma doesn’t feel great either,” Bertinelli cryptically added in another follow-up tweet.
After receiving support from her followers online, Bertinelli took to social media to share how grateful she was for the positive comments.
“There’s so much kindness out there. I certainly do not feel so alone anymore,” Bertinelli said. “It’s the shame part that’s really hard to get rid of, that stupid emotion that is absolutely useless. But I just wanted to say thank you.”
“Let’s have a really fucking great day today, you guys!” she added.
Bertinelli also received support from celebrities, including actress-singer Demi Lovato, who was called an “insufferable Karen” in April when she launched a full-blown attack against a Los Angeles-based frozen yogurt shop for offering what she believed to be “diet foods” in its store.
“I love you,” Lovato wrote to Bertinelli. “You said it yourself, you’re already enough AND whoever said that is hurting.. or not being shown enough compassion in their lives.. I’m sorry you had to deal [with] this. Here for you always.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.