Actress Valerie Bertinelli often shares her thoughts and feelings with fans through social media, but recently, she opened up during a particularly intense moment as she struggled with her emotions.
On July 11, Bertinelli shared an update on Instagram that she captioned, “🍉 💦 Feel your feelings. Do your best not to numb them. Feelings are information. Ask them what they need. Feel them. Get to the other side. ❤️🩹♥️.”
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In the accompanying video, the 65-year-old began by vulnerably admitting, “I’ve been going through some really intense, uncomfortable, sad, emotionally excruciating feelings the last few days, and I want to drink. I want to numb it. I don’t want to feel it.”
She went on, saying, “But my logical mind is like, ‘No, you don’t want to do that. You don’t want to numb it. You know what will help you feel better is to just feel the feelings. Get through to the other side. Have a good cry.’ And yet, I can’t cry…I just want to numb these f–ked-up feelings.”
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In response to her strong emotions, Bertinelli decided to talk with her fans while she sliced a watermelon, declaring, “A watermelon will make me feel better but it won’t make me numb my feelings.”
She made her personal struggle a learning moment for herself and others, saying in the video that she wanted to “talk about feelings and how, when we suppress them, when we numb them, it only makes them stronger.”
“I’m not numbing my feelings,” Bertinelli proclaimed as she munched on the watermelon, smiling despite her sadness. “I just know that I feel sad, and it’s just a feeling. It’ll pass. ‘Cause I’m strong, and I’m good. I just happen to feel sad right now, and I’ll get through it. And so can you.”
Fans responded positively to Bertinelli’s vulnerable admission, with many sharing their struggles in the comments. Both Bertinelli and other fans responded and shared support for one another.
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On July 13, Bertinelli popped on Instagram once again to thank fans for their support and share that she made it through the tough feelings and was feeling better.
Related: Valerie Bertinelli Shares Exciting Career Update: ‘That’s a Wrap’