Valerie Bertinelli reveals new boyfriend, two years after divorce heartbreak – and you might recognize him

After the heartbreak of previous relationships, Valerie Bertinelli has confirmed she’s got herself a new boyfriend, taking to Instagram with a sweet post all but making it clear she’s now off the market.

The 63-year-old, two years removed from her divorce from ex-husband Tom Vitale, and four years following the death of her first husband, Eddie Van Halen, made things Instagram official last Friday, captioning a selfie with lyrics from So High School, a Taylor Swift song reportedly about the music star’s current boyfriend Travis Kelce.

“🎶 I’ll drink what you think and I’m high from smokin’ your jokes all damn night 🎶” Bertinelli wrote in the post’s caption.

As per Entertainment Tonight, Valerie’s new man is writer Mike Goodnough, who pens a popular blog under the monicker the Hoarse Whisperer.

Earlier this month, TV personality and actress Bertinelli set the rumor mill spinning when she told USA TODAY: “I’ve met someone. And I’m incredibly grateful for him.

“It’s unlike any relationship that I’ve ever experienced with a man. I don’t want to say too much, but I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have met him. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it.”

Goodnough admitted the rumors about him dating Bertinelli were true on his Substack this week, in an essay entitled “Rumors, Rumors, Rumors…”.

In the piece, he jokingly detailed that he had asked “Ms. Bertinelli” in a “reporterly voice” if there was “any truth to the rumor you are dating me? Care to comment?”

He added: “She said ‘It’s true. I totally am. You’re my boyfriend.’”

In her recently published new cookbook, Indulge, Bertinelli discussed her previous marriage to Eddie Van Halen.

“Though we got divorced, Ed and I never stopped loving each other,” she penned in the cookbook, which was released April 12.

“Who knows, if not for cancer, we might have had a second wind,” Bertinelli wrote, adding that “I’m pretty sure that is wistful thinking.”


As for Goodnough, Valerie explained that she began following him on social media in 2016 or 2017, before he followed her back in 2018. The two eventually began to exchange messages with one another, presumably following Valerie’s divorce from Tom Vitale in 2022.

“He’s a really super funny, incredibly talented writer,” she said of Goodnough.

The actress told TH Magazine this month: “I’m in love. It’s a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant I was never falling in love again.”