Valerie Bertinelli is returning to acting in the Lifetime romance film "Love, Again," which premiered on May 9, 2024 [1].
The return marks a significant professional pivot for Bertinelli, who used a period of intense personal hardship to fuel a raw on-screen performance.
Bertinelli said she is excited to be back on screen after 10 years [2]. The actress, who was 66 at the time of the premiere [3], described the experience of filming as an emotional release. She said, "I let down every single guard for a raw performance" [4].
This vulnerability stemmed from a period Bertinelli described as the worst year of her life [5]. She said the time was marked by a series of heartbreaks and multiple surgeries [6]. Bertinelli said she wanted to channel those specific emotional experiences into her role in the film.
Joined by co-stars Eric McCormack and Henry Czerny, Bertinelli appeared at the red-carpet premiere in Hollywood, California [7]. The production is a Lifetime network project, focusing on themes of romance, and recovery [8].
Bertinelli said to Entertainment Tonight that the difficulty of her recent years informed her approach to the character [5]. By leaning into her personal pain, she sought to create a performance that felt authentic to her own struggles with health and loss [6].
“"I let down every single guard for a raw performance."”
Bertinelli's return after a decade-long hiatus suggests a shift in her career focus toward emotionally driven roles that mirror her personal life. By leveraging health crises and personal grief for a Lifetime production, she is utilizing the network's penchant for high-emotion storytelling to re-establish her presence in the U.S. acting market.
