Valerie Bertinelli’s ex Mike Goodnough didn’t hold back in a fiery Instagram post, slamming the actress for allegedly taking ‘backhanded swipes’ at him nearly six months after their breakup.
The drama ignited when the 54-year-old writer took to Instagram on Tuesday to address speculation that he and the One Day at a Time alum, 64, were engaging in a subtle war of words through cryptic posts.
‘That is not the case,’ Goodnough began in his lengthy caption. ‘I have never at any time posted something on social media for the purposes of communicating with someone indirectly when I know them personally and have ample ways to reach them directly.’
Doubling down, he insisted he wasn’t engaging with Bertinelli at all, stating, ‘I am not communicating with Valerie via my posts. I am not engaging with the things she posts.’
Then came the real sting as Goodnough, who dated Bertinelli for 10 months, accused her of dragging him online.
‘While I am disappointed in the array of hostile, dishonest, and uncalled-for backhanded swipes she continues to take at me, there is no war between us,’ he wrote.
Valerie Bertinelli’s ex Mike Goodnough didn’t hold back in a fiery Instagram post, slamming the actress for allegedly taking ‘backhanded swipes’ at him nearly six months after their breakup; (seen in 2024)
The drama ignited when the 54-year-old writer took to Instagram on Tuesday to address speculation that he and the One Day at a Time alum, 64, were engaging in a subtle war of words through cryptic posts.
‘She just won’t stop shooting. Valerie is in a war with her ghosts. I’m just the guy who catches the bullets. And that isn’t new,’ he added.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Bertinelli’s reps for comment.
Earlier in his candid post, Goodnough appeared to make a subtle dig at Bertinelli, writing, ‘Unfortunately, over the past two months, Valerie has been prone to lapsing into a place where she has been playing a one-woman tennis match thinking there is someone on the other side of the net.’
He went on to accuse her of misinterpreting his words, adding, ‘When in that place, she reads all of my posts, centers herself in them, takes offense over wholly imagined slights, and then lashes out angrily with a “response” to things that were neither to her or about her.’
The result, he claimed, was a false narrative of an ongoing feud.
‘Among people who follow us both, that behavior has created the impression that we are going back-and-forth. We are not.’
Despite the pointed remarks, Goodnough insisted he still cares for Bertinelli.
‘I care about Valerie,’ he wrote. ‘ I have love for her and I always will. I want her to be happy. It will bring me nothing but joy to see that she is.’
‘That is not the case,’ Goodnough began in his lengthy caption
Doubling down, he insisted he wasn’t engaging with Bertinelli at all, stating, ‘I am not communicating with Valerie via my posts. I am not engaging with the things she posts’
Then came the real sting as Goodnough, who dated Bertinelli for 10 months, accused her of dragging him online
Earlier in his candid post, Goodnough appeared to make a subtle dig at Bertinelli, writing, ‘Unfortunately, over the past two months, Valerie has been prone to lapsing into a place where she has been playing a one-woman tennis match thinking there is someone on the other side of the net’
He went on to accuse her of misinterpreting his words, adding, ‘When in that place, she reads all of my posts, centers herself in them, takes offense over wholly imagined slights, and then lashes out angrily with a “response” to things that were neither to her or about her’; seen in June in L.A.
Reflecting on their past, he shared a bittersweet memory.
‘Exactly one year ago, Valerie and I were together for the launch of her book. It was one of the most joyful weeks of my life.
‘Taking true deep joy from Valerie’s happiness and success was the easiest thing in the world. It is no harder now.’
While Goodnough accuses Bertinelli of taking swipes, she had nothing but praise for him earlier this month, calling herself ‘so lucky’ to have met him and to have him in her life in a heartfelt Instagram post.
In her tribute, the actress gave a nod to his newsletter Hoarse Whisperings and showered him with compliments, describing his writing as ‘ridiculously beautiful’ and praising both his talent and character.
Alongside her glowing words, she shared a black-and-white selfie of the two cuddled up, her head resting on his shoulder, along with a screenshot of his Substack newsletter header.
Just two weeks earlier, she also said she ‘fumbled the last good man’ following her ‘two failed marriages.’
