Valerie Bertinelli on acting, cooking return, sharing trauma in new book

Valerie Bertinelli not only has a new book out, but a new online hub and an upcoming Lifetime movie. She talks to us about everything.

Valerie Bertinelli likes to scream.

At least when the script calls for it. And sometimes in real life, too.

For her upcoming Lifetime movie, “Love, Again,” co-starring Eric McCormack and Henry Czerny, Bertinelli, 65, delighted in digging into her emotions.

“The first scene we filmed was a crying scene, so I’m like, OK, good, just get raw right now, Val,” she told USA TODAY in a recent interview. “I found that it was so cathartic. I was able to take all of this grief that I’d been living with the last eight years, starting with my dad dying and then my mom and then (ex-husband) Ed (Van Halen) and then my cat and take all of that frustration and grief and sadness and put it into a role.”

More: Paul McCartney's Wings oral history delves into drama, drugs and much love