Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend Mike Goodnough has opened up about how she has supported him since the start of their relationship.
The writer, who turns 54 this month, detailed how Bertinelli, 64, showed immense compassion as his childhood friend was dying.
In an Instagram post, Mike shared that he flew to Los Angeles to be with his friend at the end of his life.
He explained, ‘At that point, @wolfiesmom and I had only been together a few months. Still, she knew how overwrought I was and told me I could stay with her.’
Goodnough recalled, ‘That week was excruciating… but also healing… it helped me find peace from losses long grieved. Valerie’s support was the reason why.’
Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend Mike Goodnough has opened up about how she has supported him since the start of their relationship; Valerie pictured in June
The writer, who turns 54 this month, detailed how Bertinelli, 64, showed immense compassion as his childhood friend was dying
In his lengthy caption, he shared: ‘Each night that week, when I returned from supporting my friend and his grieving mother and family, she made sure I ate.
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‘The first night, she made me a sandwich. I will be 54 in a few days. I don’t think I remember a sandwich I’ve eaten in my life as sharply as I remember that one… how it made me feel, the care in it, the love.’
He observed that his girlfriend ‘didn’t owe me that; she offered it.’
Elsewhere in the caption, Mike revealed that Valerie cancelled family plans to be with him ‘at a time when I really needed it.’
During his visit, Goodnough said that he ‘got up well before dawn every day to brace myself for a revisiting of my own worst losses from the past.’
He added: ‘Invariably, Valerie would find me out in the yard in the near dark, give me a hug, and then head inside to make us coffee… and then we’d sit and talk. Me mostly. Processing. Trying to wrestle down and manage and cope.’
Imparting sage wisdom to his 50,000 followers, he shared, ‘There are people who show you they care and people who only tell you the do.
‘Take careful note of each. Hold close the former and give space to the latter. The former – the people who are there for you – are life’s richest blessing. Treasure them, for they are treasures.’
The couple pictured in Los Angeles on June 8
The couple went ‘Instagram official’ in April
The couple went ‘Instagram official’ in April.
It came two days after Goodnough revealed his identity in a Substack post and confirmed their romance.
Goodnough went into detail in a post titled Rumors, Rumors, Rumors… in which he explained how his romance with Valerie came to be.
‘I am Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend… and that may well be among the most surreal sentences I’ve ever pecked out,’ Goodnough wrote in an essay.
‘But it’s true… and nothing about our actual relationship seems surreal. It just seems… good… lucky… a gift,’ he added.
He continued: ‘Life is crazy, kids. It just is. It’ll rain hellfire down on you for years and bring you to your knees… and then it’ll open the skies to deep blue and love and calling someone ‘Honey’ because you just love the absolute hell out of her and feel so very thankful for the gift of that feeling, the gift of her.’