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Television star and Food Network host Valerie Bertinelli is ushering in her 64th birthday not long after receiving the gift of a special someone after much romantic turbulence. April 23 marks her big birthday, but Bertinelli has already been celebrating her new relationship, officially revealed just weeks prior, to Mike Goodnough. For Bertinelli, romance felt like a thing of the past. “My belly is flip-flopping,” she admitted in an interview with PEOPLE. “This was not supposed to happen.” In fact, “It's a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant I was never falling in love again.” To look at her emotionally fraught relationship history puts into context just how far she’s come just in time for a particularly special 64th birthday. Valerie Bertinelli is ushering her her 64th birthday with a new and unexpected boyfriend, Mike Goodnough Valerie Bertinelli celebrates this 64th birthday with a new love / Instagram Bertinelli thought she had it all figured out. In fact, if you asked her, she believed, “I was supposed to die with my six cats and my dog, and very happily live the rest of my years alone — I'm good alone.” RELATED: Inside Valerie Bertinelli’s Two Marriages: Actress Wedded And Divorced Eddie Van Halen, Tom Vitale Then, to everyone’s surprise but especially her own, she had an exciting announcement to make this spring. Back in March, she vaguely revealed that she was “in love,” but did not yet say with whom. Weeks later, Mike confirmed he was the object of her affections. “I am Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend,” he confirmed in his Substack called Hoarse Whisperings, “and that may well be among the most surreal sentences I’ve ever pecked out. But it’s true… and nothing about our actual relationship seems surreal. It just seems … good … lucky … a gift.” From there, Bertinelli shared further about just how much Mike means to her, both as a romantic partner and as someone who has helped her in a long and personal journey. Valerie Bertinelli celebrates her 64th birthday and a personal triumph Her last relationship had left her emotionally hurt / Dennis Van Tine/starmaxinc.com STAR MAX 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED “I want to be clear that this process has taken a long time,” Bertinelli stressed. “I got more intentional about my healing. That meant a lot of walks with Luna, a lot of therapy sessions, a lot of learning that I deserve to feel good.” It’s been an uphill journey as Bertinelli endured what had reportedly been an upsetting past relationship. From 1981 to 2007, the celebrity chef was married to guitar legend Eddie Van Halen, who died in 2020 at the age of 65. She then married financial planner Tom Vitale in 2011 and the two were together for 11 years. They were sometimes very unhappy years. “I have been screamed at so many times and told how fat and lazy I am,” shared Bertinelli. “I realize…that was someone just projecting on me whatever they needed to project on me, but my part in all of it was believing it, and I don't believe it anymore. But it still doesn't stop the feelings from coming up and the hurt.” Bertinelli expected to spend the rest of her days with just her pets / ©TV Land/courtesy Everett Collection Now, she feels uplifted. “It feels incredibly right,” she gushed, explaining how the two became friends first, then entered a relationship. “I found joy first, and then a man entered my life.” Goodnough used to work in marketing and strategic communications, working as a freelancer for marketing consultancies and ad agencies. Now, he is a lifestyle writer who posts primarily on his Substack, Hoarse Whisperings, sharing general musings and his observations from fatherhood. The two first met online, messaging on Instagram years before they started dating. Bertinelli noticed that they were immediately “connected” and that she enjoyed a pleasant “comfort level” with him, adding, “He felt like a kindred spirit.” He was as guarded in his approach to this relationship as she was, starting off messaging “every few months,” and Bertinelli believed, “We both had strong feelings, trying not to admit them.” Now, she is celebrating her 64th birthday and there still is love out there waiting. Bertinelli revealed earlier this year that she is in love / ImageCollect RELATED: Valerie Bertinelli And Son Wolfgang Pay Tribute To Eddie Van Halen