Valerie Bertinelli, 63, reveals she met her new boyfriend - a writer from the East Coast - online: 'I fell in love when I least expected it!'

Valerie Bertinelli is taking about her new boyfriend, who is a writer from the East Coast.

The One Day At A Time veteran has told People in their new cover story that she met the man online years ago and they only became romantic earlier this year, but she still will not share his identity.

'I fell in love when I least expected it!' the 63-year-old brunette beauty revealed to the magazine.

'I'm in love,' Bertinelli added. 'It's a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant I was never falling in love again.

'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,' she said.

Valerie Bertinelli is taking about her new boyfriend, who is a writer from the East Coast. The One Day At A Time veteran has told People in their new cover story that she met the man online years ago and they only became romantic earlier this year, but she still will not share his identity

'My belly is flip-flopping. This was not supposed to happen.'

She then shared: 'It's crazy the comfort level. It feels incredibly right.' 

Valerie added that she has been working on herself with therapy and long walks with her dog. 

And her new book Indulge pushed her to be more open. 'The cookbook was an offshoot of the emotional and mental healing I've been doing,' she said,

'First came the work. Why I thought I didn't deserve to be loved. Why I was using food to numb my feelings. All the drama and trauma I hadn't dealt with — with Ed and my last marriage.'

Ed is Eddie Van Halen, her first husband who died. And her last marriage was to Tom Vitale.

'I'm in love,' Bertinelli added. 'It's a seesaw of emotions because I was adamant I was never falling in love again. '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,' she said. Seen this year

She first broke the news in mid March that she was in love.

The star gave a glowing interview to USA Today about her new romance, though she refrained from offering any personal details about him such as his name. 

'I've met someone. And I'm incredibly grateful for him. It's unlike any relationship that I've ever experienced with a man,' she effervesced.

'I don't want to say too much, but I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have met him, because I wasn't expecting it!' she added.

'He was not on my radar. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it,' the One Day At A Time star confessed. 'So this came out of left field, and I'm grateful it did. He's very special.'

Thrilled: 'My belly is flip-flopping. This was not supposed to happen.' She then shared: 'It's crazy the comfort level. It feels incredibly right.' Seen March 10 in West Hollywood

With regards to her decision to announce the relationship on Instagram this week, she marveled: 'What was I doing?…I just can't help it. When I'm flipping happy, it's all over me, and he's one of the main reasons.

'I really want women and men to take away that it's the work that you do (on yourself) that can lead you to meeting someone like I've been lucky enough to meet right now. This would not have happened three years ago, four years ago, last year - it wouldn't have. And I feel incredibly lucky to have met him and made a connection with him.'

Bertinelli filed for divorce from her second husband, financial planner Tom Vitale, in November of 2021.

Their divorce was finalized a year later, with a settlement that saw Valerie forced to fork over an eyewatering $2.2 million to Tom. 

As recently as last June, she joked on TikTok that she replied to questions about whether she would 'start dating again soon' by saying: 'Yeah, f*** no.' 

Now, however, she has changed her mind - she re-posted the old TikTok to her Insta Stories and dished: 'This didn't age well.' 

Valerie's first husband was the legendary late rock star Eddie Van Halen, with whom she shares a now 32-year-old called Wolfgang. 

She has been frank about her turbulent marriage to Eddie, which finally went up in flames in 2001 as his addictions took their toll on the relationship. 

Valerie's first husband was the legendary late rock star Eddie Van Halen, with whom she shares a now 32-year-old called Wolfgang; Valerie and Eddie pictured in 1987

She began dating Tom Vitale in 2004 and married him in 2011, becoming a stepmother to his two sons and two daughters; they are pictured in 2012

The cookbook author with one of her six cats at home in March

Valerie told Rob Lowe on his podcast that while she was with Eddie, she herself indulged in drugs 'for a few years until I just couldn't take it anymore.' 

Eddie got sober in 2008, the year after his divorce from Valerie was finalized, but he died in late 2020 at the age of 65 after a battle with throat cancer. 

She began dating Tom Vitale in 2004 and married him in 2011, becoming a stepmother to his two sons and two daughters.

A decade later, Valerie filed for divorce on grounds of irreconcilable differences, and the split was finalized on November 22, 2022 - which she gleefully referred to on social media as the 'second best day of my life.'

Early the following year, Valerie talked cryptically about 'healing' from a relationship with a 'narcissist' who called her 'fat and lazy' in texts she 'found.'