Valerie Bertinelli says she was ‘ghosted’ by Food Network’s ‘Kids Baking Championship’
Don’t expect to see Valerie Bertinelli back on Food Network any time soon. And she’s very upset about it.
Over the weekend, the Daytime Emmy-winning host hopped on social media to explain why she’ll no longer appear on the competition series “Kids Baking Championship.”
“I’ve been avoiding facing what I got confirmation for last night ... it really hurt my feelings. I know it’s not supposed to,” said Bertinelli — who hosted the show alongside Duff Goldman since it premiered in 2015 — in a Saturday Instagram video.
“Logically, I know that it’s business, budget cuts, right? But it really hurt my feelings to know that I’m not going to be asked back to be on ‘Kids Baking Championship.’ Really sucks,” she said.
The “Valerie’s Home Cooking” and “One Day at a Time” star clarified that the episodes of the competition series currently airing on the Food Network were shot in 2022 — a year that Bertinelli described as her “apex year of hell.” She added that being on the program during that difficult personal stretch saved her life.
Valerie Bertinelli shot down a TikTok user who accused her of recently getting Botox, saying that she hated the result when she was injected six years ago.
In 2022, Bertinelli was in the process of getting a divorce from her former spouse, financial planner Tom Vitale. The couple began dating in 2004, while the actor was still legally married to guitarist Eddie Van Halen — though they had separated in 2001. Vitale and the “Hot in Cleveland” star got married in 2011 and finalized their divorce in November 2022.
“Working with all those really wonderful people, feeling productive and knowing I could spread some kindness and not just wallow in my hell and just keep my head above water, it helped me,” she said Saturday. “It was like a flotation device. So it really hurts that I won’t be able to go back and see everybody.”
Representatives for Food Network did not respond Monday to The Times’ request for comment.
The 63-year-old Golden Globe winner spoke more about how her exit from Food Network played out in an X (formerly Twitter) post on Sunday.
“I got an inkling I might not be asked back when I saw I was not in the holiday specials,” she wrote. “I got a text by a third party on Friday that told me I would not be back. LOL I was basically ghosted.”
Plugging the 14th season of her Food Network show, ‘Valerie’s Home Cooking,’ host Valerie Bertinelli revealed that Food Network canceled the series last summer.
In a follow-up post, she clarified that she holds no hate toward her former employer over the decision.
“I have zero ill will toward anyone at FN, I enjoyed every single moment I worked for them, and they are all lovely, kind, hard-working people,” she added. “And I understand business is business.”
“Kids Baking Championship” is the second Food Network show that Bertinelli has been taken off of in the last year. In April, she announced that the 14th season of “Valerie’s Home Cooking” would be the last season of the show.
“The bad news is that it’s its final season. Yeah, Food Network canceled us last summer. I have no idea why. I didn’t say anything last summer because, honestly, I was hoping they would change their mind,” Bertinelli said in an Instagram video at the time. “But they have not, so this is it. This is the final season. I have loved making this show. It was such a dream come true. Every single part of it brought me so much joy.”
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
