Valerie Bertinelli’s ex-boyfriend, Mike Goodnough, accused the former Food Network star of taking « backhanded swipes » at him in her Instagram posts when he spoke out about speculation the two were engaged in a subtle feud on social media.
The 54-year-old writer and Bertinelli, 64, called it quits in November after 10 months of dating. On Monday, Goodnough responded to the many « messages and replies » he said he had received, which implied the duo « appear to be communicating with each other via our Instagram posts and stories. »
« That is not the case, » he wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. « I have never at any time posted something on social media for the purposes of communicating with someone indirectly when I know them personally and have ample ways to reach them directly.
Valerie Bertinelli’s ex, Mike Goodnough, accused her of taking « backhanded swipes » at him on social media. (Stewart Cook/Getty Images for NATAS)
« I have never at any time posted something for the purpose of getting a message to someone or getting reaction out of someone, » Goodnough added. « I’ve never posted something in an effort to impact someone’s feelings about me privately or to influence others’ opinions of them publicly.
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« I am an adult, » he added. « I am very capable of communicating openly and directly with people I know and care about. »
Goodnough asserted that he still cared for Bertinelli despite their split, writing, « I have love for her and I always will.
« I want her to be happy, » he wrote. « It will bring me nothing but joy to see that she is. »
The two split in November after 10 months of dating. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images/Hoarse Whisperer/Instagram)
Goodnough recalled that he was by Bertinelli’s side a year ago for the launch of her cookbook « Indulge, » describing the time as « one of the most joyful weeks of my life. »
« Taking true deep joy from Valerie’s happiness and success was the easiest thing in the world, » he wrote. « It is no harder now.
« Our relationship as partners ended, » Goodnough added. « My caring about her did not. »
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While Goodnough claimed that none of his posts were directed at Bertinelli, he slammed the « One Day at a Time » actress for allegedly taking shots at him on social media after their breakup.
« Unfortunately, over the past two months, Valerie has been prone to lapsing into a place where she has been playing a one-woman tennis match thinking there is someone on the other side of the net, » Goodnough wrote.
« When in that place, she reads all of my posts, centers herself in them, takes offense over wholly imagined slights, and then lashes out angrily with a ‘response’ to things that were neither to her or about her. »
Goodnough denied that any of his posts were directed at Bertinelli. (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)
Goodnough claimed Bertinelli’s posts had given their mutual followers the impression the two were engaged in a « back-and-forth, » which he denied. However, he did not specify which of Bertinelli’s posts he was referring to in his remarks.
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« I am not communicating with Valerie via my posts, » he wrote. « I am not engaging with the things she posts.
« While I am disappointed in the array of hostile, dishonest, and uncalled for backhanded swipes she continues to take at me, there is no war between us.
« She just won’t stop shooting. Valerie is in a war with her ghosts. I’m just the guy who catches the bullets. And that isn’t new. »
A representative for Bertinelli did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Bertinelli praised Goodnough last month in a since-deleted post. (Getty Images/Valerie Bertinelli Instagram)
In a February Instagram post, Bertinelli reflected on what makes relationships work, writing that she had « fumbled the last true good man I met. »
Bertinelli heaped praise on Goodnough in a since-deleted post that she shared last month. According to People magazine, the Delaware native wrote that she felt « so lucky to have gotten to know him, » and she was « irreversibly changed by him for the better. »
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She also encouraged her fans to subscribe to his newsletter, Hoarse Whisperings, so they could « get the beautiful gift of what it’s like to be in his orbit. »
The « Hot In Cleveland » actress first revealed she was in a new relationship in March 2024. Bertinelli and Goodnough went public with their relationship on social media one month later, with the celebrity chef posting a photo of them together, with the caption, « I’ll drink what you think and I’m high from smokin’ your jokes all damn night. »
Bertinelli was previously married to Tom Vitale from 2011 to 2022, and the actress described their divorce as « wicked. »
Prior to her marriage to Vitale, Bertinelli was married to musician Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007.
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Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
