Book Review: Getting Naked

With her signature warmth and disarming humor, the beloved actress and New York Times bestselling author strips away the polished façade and shares what it’s really like to grow older, love harder, and start over. Now in her mid-sixties, Valerie reflects on the hard-won lessons of aging, self-worth, and letting go. From her experiences with menopause, relationships, and family trauma, she writes with clarity and compassion about the insecurities that have haunted her for decades: shame and anxiety about her body, and the false belief that her value depended on perfection. Through it all, Valerie reflects on the quiet, daily work of self-acceptance—the kind that doesn’t make headlines but changes lives. Getting Naked isn’t just a story of survival. It’s a reckoning—with her past, her family history, and the generational pain that shaped her. It’s about the myths we believe when we’re young—about beauty, love, success—and how we carry them until they break us open. It’s about unlearning the script that says women must please, endure, and stay silent.

The result is a deeply personal, unexpectedly funny, and profoundly uplifting look at the inner journey we all share. Getting Naked isn’t about vulnerability for vulnerability’s sake. It’s about finally letting go of the need to be perfect, quieting the harsh inner critic, and choosing compassion over judgment. After all, it’s never too late to make peace with yourself—and to fall madly in love with the perfectly imperfect person you already are.

Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect by Valerie Bertinelli will be published March 10, 2026. William Morrow provied an early galley for review.

I have been a fan of hers since the 1970's and read her previous book Losing It back in the day too. We're around the same age, so I tend to think of her as "my generation". I am always eager to hear more from her.

This time around, she shares a collection of "essays" focusing on aspects of her life - topics that all of us as we go through our own lives. They are relatable and so is her discussions of each one. I found it easy to "hear" the words in her distinctive voice. It was like having a conversation with a long-time friend.

It is nice to hear "real talk" from someone who has been part of the pop culture sphere for most of her (and my) life.