Valerie Bertinelli’s Ex-Boyfriend Mike Goodnough Speaks Out About Their Split

• Valerine Bertinelli’s ex-boyfriend Mike Goodnough shared an Instagram post on Saturday, April 19, addressing a previous social media statement which he says “made it worse not better”
• He expressed his regret over sharing details about the “conflict” between himself and the Food Network star
• “Valerie and I had a complicated relationship,” wrote Goodnough, who dated Bertinelli for 10 months

Valerie Bertinelli’s ex-boyfriend Mike Goodnough is speaking out about their split — and sharing his regrets about the drama between them sparked by a social media post.

In an Instagram post shared on Friday, April 18, Goodnough, 54, addressed a previous social media statement he made that included candid details about their breakup.

“Writing this post makes me absolutely miserable,” he began his lengthy message, which was accompanied by a graphic that read: “You & me. The end.”

“But it feels like something I have to do,” the author, who dated Bertinelli for 10 months, wrote. “A couple weeks ago, there was an ado about conflict between Valerie and I that ended up in the press. A post of mine here was the cause of it. I regret having posted it. I wish I hadn’t. The issue addressed was real. My post made it worse rather than better.”

“Valerie and I had a complicated relationship,” Goodnough continued. “Our time as a couple ended months ago but our close contact only really ended recently. So, it is more ‘fresh’ than it would seem.”

The former couple split in November 2024, as confirmed exclusively to PEOPLE by a source at the time. Before this, Bertinelli was married to financial planner Tom Vitale from 2011 to 2022, following her first marriage to the late Van Halen frontman Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007.

According to Goodnough, there were an “endless number” of things that caused the pair to break up, many of them “external.”

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“They were things outside of our relationship, per se, which nonetheless interfered,” he wrote. “The one thing that was never an issue was our love for each other. I loved Valerie more than I’ve ever loved someone in a relationship of choice. (My love for my son is a whole different thing.).”

“As a result, the dissolution of our relationship and way it played out has been by far the most painful experience of my life,” Goodnough continued. “It has been so acutely agonizing, it has entirely changed the scale of how much heartbreak can hurt. What was once a 10 is now a four.”

Goodnough finished the post by confirming that their relationship had officially ended, stating that “this chapter is now closed for me,” as he noted that the pair had not spoken much over the last few months. He also shared that he reached out to Bertinelli this week, and she did not respond.

“Over the last few months, I had hoped we’d find a way to a gentle parting rather than a closed door but couldn’t seem to get us to one,” he wrote. “I reached out again this week in that hope. No answer is an answer though. I accept it.”

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“I won’t have anything more to say about it — and nothing I have to say will be about it,” the author added. “I’ve cried about this enough. It’s time to move on.”

Earlier this month, Goodnough shared another candid post about their relationship that made headlines, as he wrote a raw, honest statement about their interactions since their breakup. He seemingly alleged that Bertinelli was making “hostile, dishonest and uncalled for backhanded swipes” aimed at him.

“Valerie is in a war with her ghosts. I’m just the guy who catches the bullets. And that isn’t new,” he wrote at the time.

Despite the difficulties the pair were facing in the wake of their breakup, Goodnough also described being with Bertinelli last year during the launch of her cookbook Indulge one of “the most joyful” periods of his life.

“Our relationship as partners ended. My caring about her did not,” he noted.