Valerie Bertinelli slams Food Network: 'It's not about cooking or learning any longer'
Valerie Bertinelli is cooking up conversation by throwing shade at the Food Network.
Just three months after exiting the network, Bertinelli slammed her former employer online on Tuesday.
"I fell in love with Food Network two decades ago because of all the amazing ITK (in the kitchen) shows," Bertinelli posted on Threads.
"30 minute meals, Ina, Giada…the list goes on," she said, highlighting "Barefoot Contessa" host Ina Garten and "Giada at Home" host Giada De Laurentiis. "I learned so much. It’s sad it’s not about cooking and learning any longer. Oh well, that’s just business, folks."
The comments came in response to a Thread by cookbook author Marlynn Schotland that said, "I miss actual cooking shows on @foodnetwork. Remember those? Do you know what this world does NOT need? Yet another cooking competition show."
The Essentials: Valerie Bertinelli on dating, new cookbook and 'wistful' thinking about Eddie Van Halen
Bertinelli's Thread quoted another user who wrote, "They will kill the channel. It was the death of MTV as well."
In January, the longtime co-host of the network's popular competition show "Kids Baking Championship" told her 1.5 million followers she was fired citing "budget cuts" as the reason she was given for her removal.
"I've been avoiding facing what I got confirmation of last night, and I didn't want to talk about it last night. I wanted to sleep on it because it really hurt my feelings," she said in an Instagram video at the time, which she captioned with hearts and a crying emoji.
"I know it's not supposed to. Logically, I know it's business. Budget cuts, right? But it really hurt my feelings to know that I'm not going to be asked back to be on 'Kids Baking Championship' really sucks," she continued.
Valerie Bertinelli dating again, hints at relationship with blogger
In recent months, Bertinelli has started dating a new man two years after filing for divorce from ex-husband Tom Vitale and four years after losing ex-husband Eddie Van Halen.
"I've met someone. And I'm incredibly grateful for him," she told USA TODAY earlier this month for The Essentials. "It's unlike any relationship that I’ve ever experienced with a man. I don't want to say too much, but I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to have met him. I was going to die with my six cats and my dog and be incredibly happy doing it."
Bertinelli also wrote about Van Halen in her recent cookbook, "Indulge," which was released on April 2.
"Though we got divorced, Ed and I never stopped loving each other. Who knows, if not for cancer, we might have had a second wind," Bertinelli wrote, adding that "I'm pretty sure that is wistful thinking."
In recent days, Bertinelli has hinted at dating a blogger called the Hoarse Whisperer, who penned a column about the chef and actress on his Substack about Bertinelli's press tour for her cookbook.
"She has been through the absolute ringer… and when it was the hardest and felt the worst and was almost too much, she dug down deep and did hard work. She got to the root of things and waded through hard histories. She ran towards the labor of healing not away from it. She hurt like hell and worked like hell to not hurt," he wrote.
In the column, he repeatedly called Bertinelli "my girlfriend" and referred to himself as "the boyfriend." She reshared the column on her Instagram Story with the caption: "I just can't with this man" and crying emojis.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Valerie Bertinelli slams former employer Food Network