Valerie Bertinelli (Not In A Bikini)

In 2009, Valerie Bertinelli lost 50 pounds following the Jenny Craig program, for which she was a paid endorser. She celebrated by posing in a bikini on the cover of People:

Issue dated April 6, 2009



A few weeks later, Melissa Joan Hart was featured in an almost identical cover, celebrating the same accomplishment:

Issue dated June 8, 2009



That prompted me to write this, in a post dated June 1, 2009:

Do we really need this many cover stories about B-, C-, or D-list actresses who lost weight and are now posing in bikinis? To refresh your memory, the cover story for People's April 6 issue was a picture of Valerie Bertinelli in a bikini, with a headline that said "Bikini Body at 48." My thought at the time was "Is this really the most intriguing thing happening in the world of celebrities this week?" That issue must have really sold well because this week's cover is almost identical. It's a picture of Melissa Joan Hart (who???) in a bikini, with this headline "How I lost 42 pounds". There's also a "before" picture that the sub-headline describes as horrifying. Would you like to guess what her horrifying "before" weight was? 250 pounds? 185 pounds? No, her horrifyingly fat pre-diet weight was 155 pounds. (Read the entire post here.)

By 2014 Bertinelli was visually larger than she had been in the bikini picture; predictably there was some criticism (or as she says, shaming) and in an interview on The Talk, Valerie pushed back:

Valerie Bertinelli has no problem admitting that she has gained back some of the 40 pounds she famously lost on Jenny Craig in 2012, but says she shouldn't be publicly shamed for it.

The actress candidly discussed her fluctuating waistline on "The Talk" Wednesday, after recent photos from the set of her sitcom, "Hot in Cleveland," highlighted her curvier figure.

"Because I broke my foot three months ago and I've not been able to work out, the weight starts to creep up," she told the co-hosts. "Then, I started thinking, 'Why do I feel so much shame?' Because the cameras are on me? Because the paparazzi can't wait to get a picture of me looking like I've gained a few pounds. It's like, we have to take the shame out of it." (From ABC News, read more here.)

I agree that women shouldn't be shamed or criticized for their weight, in fact I wish everyone would stop talking about women's bodies all together, regardless of their weight or their size. At the time I was struck by the irony and in a blog post titled "A message for Valerie Bertinelli," I said this:

One way to "take the shame out of gaining weight" is to stop glorifying women who lose weight. Exhibit A: People's cover story from April, 6, 2009.

Now Valerie's back, on the cover of last week's issue, this time fully clothed:

Issue dated May 25, 2020: Valerie Bertinelli

The article at people.com, linked-to above, starts with this:

When Valerie Bertinelli put on a green bikini to pose for the PEOPLE cover in 2009, it was the first time she had worn a bikini in almost 30 years.

She was about to turn 49, and after nine months on the Jenny Craig diet, for which she was a spokesperson, and countless stomach crunches, she had lost more than 40 lbs. "There's a lot of pride and a lot of shame associated with that cover," says the beloved star in this week's issue of PEOPLE. "I worked really, really, really hard. Physically definitely. I wish to God I had worked just as hard on my mental shape."

"But when I don't work on what's eating me, I'm going to start eating," she says.

... and ends with this:

And as for the green bikini, she keeps it tucked away in a closet drawer. "The funny thing is, the green bikini was a size large," she notes.

"Even at the lowest weight I've been in decades, I was still wearing a large," she says. "Everybody's shape is what we should be celebrating." 

Absolutely.

And one more thing: I didn't do a Guessing Game post for this week.