Photo credit: The Food Network

America fell in love with Valerie Bertinelli when she starred as the gorgeous, girl-next-door on the hit 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time. At the age of 20, she famously married rocker Eddie Van Halen, then, just as famously, had her marriage fall apart, admitted to having a drug problem and she gained a lot of weight.

She could have run away and hidden but she stood up and rebuilt her life. She kicked the drugs, remarried and now in her 50s, she looks and feels better than ever.

She talks to Growing Bolder about learning to embrace her problems and using them to help others. Plus, she discusses her love/hate relationship with food and reveals why she wanted to start a cooking show, called Valerie’s Home Cooking, on the Food Network.