Valerie Bertinelli is an actress who is known both for her beauty and for her decades-long struggle of trying to lose weight. Now, the 60 year-old former “One Day At A Time” star is opening up about her battle against her weight in a wide-ranging interview with People Magazine.

“Gaining weight, losing weight, gaining weight, losing weight — I’d never dealt with any of the emotions,” Bertinelli said.

She added that her battle with self-acceptance is something that she has been fighting ever since she was a little girl.

“I was always trying to be better. Thinner. Nicer. Prettier,” she said. “I remember my fifth-grade teacher patted me on the belly and said, ‘You might want to keep an eye on that.’ That was the first time I became really aware of my body.”

“My mom had me these green hot pants with a bib,” Bertinelli recalled. “I was wearing green tights and a turtleneck. I thought I was stylin’. Now I think: ‘how dare he?’ At that age we’re so full of joy and then to have someone slap you for nothing. For just standing there. Now I can be angry for that little girl. It feels like so much time wasted. I don’t want anyone else to waste any time.”

She said it took her years to learn that lesson, even after she found success as a television star.

“I was made to feel like I could lose a few, like, let’s see if we can get you into a smaller size,” she explained.

These days, Bertinelli tries not to focus on the scale.

“I don’t weigh myself as much anymore,” she said. “I’ll put on some jeans every once in a while to see how they feel. Why do I have to know what number I am? I know it’s really about the internal work.”

She enjoys following celebrities like Lizzo and Ashley Graham, who are not only unashamed of being bigger women, they are proud of it.

“It would have been nice to have had women like that when I was growing up, to look up to,” Bertinelli explained. “It doesn’t freakin’ matter what size they are. They glow from within. Thank God for them.”

In the end, Bertinelli hopes her journey will inspire other women to love and accept themselves.

“If I can help somebody be kind to themselves, hopefully, that will help me be kind to myself too,” she said. “And my hope is I can connect with someone who needs to hear my story.”