Valerie Bertinelli, 65, Opens Up About How Her Body Changed During Recent Talk With Drew Barrymore – Video

At 65, the actress is no longer pretending every change in her body deserves panic, and she recently made clear that one deeply personal issue has become easier to live with for one simple reason: there is no pressure right now to make it acceptable to someone else.

Valerie Bertinelli brought that mindset into her March 24, 2026, conversation with Drew Barrymore while discussing her new book. As she spoke about aging, she began revealing exactly how much her body has been through and why she is done dressing that reality up.

A Conversation That Took a Very Personal Turn

The discussion centered on "Getting Naked," where Bertinelli opens up about growing older, divorce, menopause, generational pain, and the pressure women often feel to stay perfect no matter what they are carrying inside.

There was nothing polished about the way she spoke with Barrymore. The two women were frank from the start, and that openness gave Bertinelli room to say things many celebrities would normally edit out.

At one point, they began complimenting each other's looks, and then Barrymore said, "We're not two women chasing that dragon of youth."

The "One Day at a Time" actress laughed and responded, "No. I think I didn't know you long before I was literally showing you my boobs."

Barrymore matched her candor right away, "Oh, my god. Of course. And I was showing you mine." But Bertinelli was leading their discussion up to somewhere more revealing.

What She Chose to Say Out Loud

She went on to explain why that moment between them had happened in the first place. Referring to the deeply personal material in her book, she said:

"I mean, because I have. I mean, if you read the book, you'll know that my boobs are deformed and I talk very extensively and graphically about how deformed they are."

This is because she had four surgeries in 2024.

Bertinelli also shared Barrymore's reaction after seeing what she had been dealing with. "Drew is like, 'How bad can it be?' I'm like, 'Really?' And she goes, 'Oh, yeah, that's bad,'" she revealed.

And according to Bertinelli, that kind of honesty is one of the reasons why she likes and trusts Barrymore. She's honest.

The "50 First Dates" actress added, "Yeah. And then I proceeded to be like, 'Okay, here's. Here's what we can do.'"

The exchange was funny in places, but it also showed how much relief there can be in saying things exactly as they are. But Bertinelli shared something further about herself.

The actress said, "I don't know. I'm sorry. I totally took away from your question. My boobs suck, but I'm not dating, so it doesn't matter.... um yet."

It was a joke, but it also exposed the logic behind the way she is looking at all of this now. The issue is still there. But the pressure to make herself appealing to a partner is not currently a priority in her life.

And from there, Bertinelli's deeper history started to come into view.

The Surgeries Behind the Confession

In a People interview from earlier this month, Bertinelli also explained that she got breast implants in the late 1980s, liked them for a while, and later grew to hate them.

After years of gaining and losing weight, she said she no longer liked how they looked and felt ready to return to what she originally had. Therefore, in 2024, she had the implants removed after a fall.

Unfortunately, the outcome was not what she expected.

Bertinelli developed a serious infection that led to another surgery. She recalled, "The look on my doctor's face when he finally saw me made me think 'Oh [expletive]' I guess I should have come in earlier."

During this second operation, the physician had to take everything out. "It became a crater," she described, adding that she required one more procedure to even her chest afterward.

But even while describing the hardest parts, Bertinelli kept reaching for humor. Pointing to her cats, she joked, "Me and these guys are the only ones looking at my boobs anyways."

Then she added:

"I don't care because I can't see without my glasses on ... I'll have to date somebody who can't see."

Her Book Is All About Reclaiming the Narrative

A few days before her conversation with Barrymore, Bertinelli had already given followers a glimpse of how she wanted to frame this chapter of her life. In a March 21 Instagram post, she shared behind-the-scenes images from the cover shoot for "Getting Naked."

The photos showed her in various states of undress, but the mood was not provocative for the sake of it. The images felt purposeful, calm, and uplifting.

Her caption made things much clearer. She wrote, "Writing getting naked was a process. The process of uncovering my shame. The process of owning it, so no one could ever use it as a weapon to hurt me ever again."

The actress continued, "I think we can never fully protect ourselves from feeling exposed, but the process of writing this book and posing for the cover was a beautiful fear I was able to walk through and get to the other side of."

The caption goes on to say that allowing yourself to feel fear is one of the strengths all people have, and Bertinelli finished her post with:

"I hope you find your own joy in disarming any weapon an individual may disingenuously use to hurt you. You alone have the power to free yourself."

The daring actress has always been fully open about her life, both online and with Barrymore. Although this time their conversation was serious, both ladies aren't afraid to be funny and a little silly, like in an earlier appearance on her talk show.

As previously reported, the "Touched by an Angel" star unveiled a shocking hair transformation back on February 4. The dramatic reveal played out for all to see when "The Drew Barrymore Show" shared an Instagram video capturing Bertinelli and her close friend, surrendering their hair to Chris Appleton's expert hands.

A Silver Surprise Debuts Online with a Playful Transformation

At first, the actresses appeared with their natural hair colors before the clip, set to audio inspired by the hit show "Heated Rivalry," flipped the script entirely. Suddenly, the duo emerged, posing confidently with luminous gray hues, flashing bright smiles as Appleton joined them.

Whether the transformations were achieved with wigs remains unconfirmed, but Appleton later pulled back the curtain just enough.

He revealed the Schwarzkopf Professional products he used to achieve the look, including items from the BlondMe Lightener and Igora Vibrance lines. The post's caption read, "Gray hair .. challenge accepted."

A Creative Partnership That Keeps Reinventing Her Look

The actress and Appleton have clearly been relishing their creative freedom, repeatedly pushing the boundaries of her look with playful abandon. Back in November 2025, Bertinelli found herself back in Appleton's chair once again, this time arriving with her familiar brunette hair.

By the time the celebrity stylist was finished, however, the transformation was complete — her darker strands had been replaced with a bold, attention-grabbing blonde.

The 65-year-old proudly took to Instagram to debut the look, sharing a selfie that quickly set tongues wagging. Bertinelli's golden blonde hue was styled in loose, cascading waves with a center part. Meanwhile, darker roots peeked through for a deliberately undone, effortlessly chic finish.

"New hair who dis?" she joked in the caption, before pulling back the curtain on the transformation. The actress revealed the blonde bombshell look was actually a wig styled by the celebrity pro.

A Brief Blonde Detour Sparks a Return to the Girl She Still Recognizes

Bertinelli, however, didn't cling to the blonde fantasy for long. While scores of admiring comments flooded the post — praising the actress as stunning in her lighter locks — she returned to Instagram just one day later with a very different reveal.

The actress smiled softly into the camera, sporting her familiar brunette mane, signaling a return to something far more personal.

"Back to the real me 🥰," she began in the caption, striking a reflective note. "It's always fun to play dress up and fool around with hair and make up, but when I look in the mirror, I want to see…me."

Bertinelli added that she had spent most of her life blending into the background and minimizing herself to keep others at ease. She explained that she now wants to acknowledge the younger version of herself who felt unheard and finally give that part of herself a sense of voice and power.

"That little girl that was always on her best behavior, tell her some people don't deserve your best behavior. That perpetual people pleaser that thought it was normal for people to walk all over her, tell her boundaries are healthy," she continued.

Bertinelli ended her note with a reflection directed at her younger self. She said, "Tell that little girl that thought she had to do and say anything to make someone love her, that she was always lovable all on her own. That little girl, has brown hair."

The Long, Center-Parted Style Fans First Came to Know

Bertinelli's ever-evolving hair story stretches all the way back to the very beginning of her rise to fame. In 1975, at just 15 years old and debuting as Barbara Cooper on the wildly successful sitcom "One Day at a Time," Bertinelli was rarely seen without her long, flowing hair.

Her locks fell well past her shoulders, typically parted straight down the middle, with the front sections neatly tucked behind her ears. This soft, understated style perfectly matched her fresh-faced innocence at the time.

Riding the Style Swings of the 1980s

During the 1980s, Bertinelli proved she wasn't content to stand still when it came to her hair. The actress moved away from the relatively natural styles that preserved her original texture and embraced feathery layers that felt distinctly of the decade.

From there, she played with curls and soft waves throughout the length of her hair while keeping her bangs consistent in the front.

At times, Bertinelli opted for loose, beachy waves that skimmed her shoulders, a carefree look that mirrored her growing confidence.

A Sleeker Era Takes Hold

By the 1990s, Bertinelli was clearly signaling a stylistic shift, mirroring a broader Hollywood move away from the big, layered hairstyles that had dominated the previous decade. The actress embraced shorter, more streamlined looks — a decision that would later spark a wave of nostalgia.

In 2017, Bertinelli revisited that era by sharing a throwback photo from 1994 on Facebook, showing herself with a cropped hairstyle alongside her son Wolfgang. "When Wolfgang and I had the same haircut," she wrote.

Subtle Shifts Signal a Woman Still Willing to Experiment

In 2024, Bertinelli proved that subtle change can be just as striking as a dramatic overhaul. That year, the actress took to Instagram to share behind-the-scenes footage from her 2021 photoshoot for her memoir "Enough Already."

As she posed for the camera, eagle-eyed followers noticed something different — her typically warm brown locks appeared noticeably cooler, taking on an ashier, almost blond-leaning tone. While the shift wasn't a permanent departure from her usual look, it was enough to turn heads.

When a Viral Trend Goes Wrong, and Nostalgia Sneaks Back In

For the most part, Bertinelli's hairstyles have rarely missed the mark, with the actress wisely sticking to looks that flatter her. That consistency has served her well — until, briefly, it didn't.

In 2023, the TV veteran decided to flirt with danger by attempting a very trendy hairstyle, the wolf cut, that had taken over social media feeds everywhere.

The choppy, shag-inspired look exploded in popularity throughout the 2020s, and after seeing it repeatedly online, Bertinelli decided to take matters into her own hands. Unfortunately, the DIY experiment didn't unfold quite the way she envisioned.

As she later revealed in a TikTok video, the at-home haircut resulted in an unexpected blast from the past. Instead of a modern, edgy wolf cut, Bertinelli was left with a style that uncannily echoed her former fictional alter ego, Cooper from "One Day at a Time."

What began as an impulsive late-night decision ended with hastily cut bangs and a finished result that felt far more 1970s sitcom than 2020s cool. The moment was equal parts humorous and humbling to Bertinelli and her fans.

At Crossroads: Gray Hair, Identity, and What Comes Next

Now, in 2026, Bertinelli appears to be standing at a far more vulnerable crossroads — one that has little to do with trends and everything to do with identity.

"Should I do it? Should I grow out my grey? 🤔😝In my book Getting Naked, I explore that a bit. But what is the real question—­the one lurking in the shadows—­ is it about something deeper? Does it have more to do with identity?" she asked on a reflective post on Instagram.

What might seem like a simple cosmetic choice has, for Bertinelli, cracked open bigger questions. The actress spoke of self-perception, aging, and the uneasy divide between the woman the world sees and the one she recognizes in private.

"Is one more important than the other? Should they sync up? What if they don't?" she questioned. Behind the scenes, she has reflected on the tension between appearance and emotion — the friction that comes from looking one way while feeling another.

For Bertinelli, the mirror has become less about vanity and more about truth. "What are we reflecting upon and what is reflecting back to us?" she asked.

The actress added, "I don't know, you might explore some of these same questions when you look in the mirror too. Maybe I'm not alone here."

Bertinelli also admitted to admiring women who confidently embrace their gray hair, calling them beautiful. She acknowledged that she was envious of these women, but that she may not yet be ready to fully step into that chapter herself.

"I'm still looking for that little brown eyed, brunette girl to reflect back at me. The one that didn't have a voice, who held her emotions, the good little girl who behaved, did as she was told, didn't rock the boat, the people pleaser. I want to see her, that sweet little girl, and give her the emotionally safe life that she always deserved," she explained.

In embracing the gray, Valerie Bertinelli isn't just acknowledging aging — she's confronting who she is now and opening the door to whatever hair look she chooses next.