Valerie Bertinelli Talks About Bikini Cover

Earlier this week, actress Valerie Bertinelli, was on the Today show where she talked about appearing in a bikini on the cover of People magazine. She says that the night before the shoot, she couldn’t sleep and was riddled with feelings of insecurity – "I thought, Am I really going to do this? Can I pull this off?" Finally, she drew on the strength that allowed her to lose 40 lbs and said to herself "What am I so afraid of? Come on — it’s just a bathing suit!"

So, just shy of her 49th birthday, Valerie Bertinelli put on a bathing suit and let people take pictures of her (I can’t imagine how unnerving that must have been after being overweight!).

Amazingly, she lost all of the weight through Jenny Craig, walking 10,000 steps a day and then using a personal trainer.  Now, she can run up to five times a week.  That’s amazing!  I ran for the first time in 10 years this week and I can relate to how tough it can be to build up endurance.  Bertinell says she is now in the best shape of her life. "I never, ever, ever had deltoids!” she says. "Oh my God, when I’m doing exercises and I see them pop out, I’m like, Yes!"

Watch the interview on the Today show here.  The People magazine with her on the cover comes out today.

NBC Photo: Ali Goldstein