Valerie Bertinelli Breaks Her Silence on Split From Mike Goodnough: ‘Changed by Him for the Better’

Valerie Bertinelli broke her silence on her split from ex-boyfriend Mike Goodnough almost five months after it was reported they called it quits. The former Kids Baking Championship host celebrated the one-year anniversary of meeting Mike via Instagram, while confirming their breakup for the first time.

“I met the @therealhoarse in person a year ago today and I am irreversibly changed by him for the better. I know I am becoming a much stronger and more benevolent human for having met him and spent time with him,” Valerie, 64, wrote in the lengthy caption of her Monday, March 3, post.

Valerie shared that she first fell in love with Mike’s writing and suggested her fans subscribe to her ex’s collection, Hoarse Whisperings Substack, before addressing the status of their relationship.

“Thank you, Mike, we may no longer be a couple, but you’ll always hold a very special place in my heart. Love you,” the former Valerie’s Home Cooking star concluded the message.

Fans applauded their platonic relationship in the comments section of the post and highlighted how amicably they split.

“People definitely come into our lives for a reason!! I’m quite sure he was as lucky to have you in his life!” one person wrote.

A second fan commented, “Valerie, your words stir things, too. I have also followed Mike for a while and am so happy the two of you came into each other’s lives, if only for a short while.”

Valerie publicized her relationship with Mike, 54, in April 2024 after revealing that she fell “in love” again following her divorce from her second ex-husband, Tom Vitale, whom she wed in January 2011 before finalizing their divorce in November 2022. Prior to that, she was married to the late Van Halen frontman, Eddie Van Halen, from April 1981 to December 2007.

Despite moving on, Valerie and Mike’s romance was short-lived as People reported that their relationship ended in November 2024.

“They’re no longer in a relationship,” a source told the outlet at the time.

Mike shared a cryptic message via Instagram days before the news of their breakup made headlines.

“If you can go a whole day without talking to me, then go another,” a quote read on his Instagram Stories at the time.

A second quote read, “If someone is fine without you, then let them be fine without you.”

Although the reposted message seemed to be pointed toward Valerie and their relationship, Mike claimed it was not about her.

“Y’all for real, the things I post aren’t real-time coded subtweets of my own life. I post things for all kinds of reasons. Sending some coded message about my life at that very second is close to never it,” he wrote at the time. “I post things that resonate with me as wise or thoughtful or lessons learned. I post things that I think will strike a chord with other people.”

Although Valerie remained tight-lipped about the split, a source exclusively told Closer that the TV personality “fell hard” for Mike.

“She really fell hard for him, him for her too, but the romance didn’t pan out,” the source dished at the time. “Some say it was the long-distance romance that did them in, others say it just wasn’t meant to be, but the bright side is that Valerie discovered that she could love again.”