Although I always wanted to be a Brady, in reality, our family life evolved into One Day at a Time--you know, the long running tv show about the divorced mom and her two teenaged daughters. Valerie Bertinelli was the sweet younger daughter, and in real life, she went on to marry rocker Eddie Van Halen.
The title of this book would lead one to think it's a journey of Valerie's weight gain and subsequent weight loss as a Jenny Craig spokeswoman. That'd be pretty boring. Instead, this is Valerie's story of victimhood and bad choices: her childhood, her years on the sitcom, her volatile marriage to a rock star, mothering, tv mini-series queen, and life as a Hollywood has been.
Early on, Valerie's completely obsessed about her weight, for years journaling every pound gained and lost. She writes in great details of her drug use, temptations and marital affairs, divorce, and weaves in incidences from her husband's life. She remembers every negative comment whispered "behind her back" regarding her weight gain. The whole book was WAAAAAAY too much information. This is stuff I would probably not share with even a close friend, much less publish in a book for all the world--and my children--to see. I was left with the impression that she needed to fill pages to make sure she got the money for writing a book.
The book concludes with Valerie's personal achievements: 1) success as a mother (as she sends her 15 year old son on tour with his father, who continues his cocaine and nicotine addictions, despite two bouts with mouth cancer); and 2) her celebrity weight loss stardom through Jenny Craig, where she's lost 40-50 pounds and kept it off for what, six months? a year? Although I am baffled why a 40-something year old woman would want to get back to her stick thin 120s figure...
I had much higher hopes for little Barbara Cooper. Valerie's too personal story left me with an icky feeling, leaving her unlikeable. This book is definitely NOT recommended.
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