Valerie Bertinelli is opening up about the serious complications she experienced after a breast augmentation accident. In her new memoir Getting Naked, the One Day at a Time alum recounts rupturing her right breast implant after falling down the stairs, leading to three separate surgeries.
Before her first procedure, Bertinelli consulted a plastic surgeon who warned her about the challenges of cleaning a ruptured implant and confirmed she would need new implants. Six weeks later, she underwent the surgery. “My doctor showed me the old implants. They were like ostrich eggs, hard and crusted over,” Bertinelli wrote.
Initially, her recovery seemed smooth, but a week later, her right breast turned shades of green, yellow, and blue, swelling rapidly and causing dizziness and fever.
She waited through the weekend before seeking medical help, at which point she was sent to an aftercare clinic and started on antibiotics. A second doctor recommended immediate implant removal, which she underwent the next day.
Complications continued. Bertinelli described her breast as “cratering,” with an open wound over an inch deep near her nipple. She said it looked “like a horror movie,” with her nipple barely intact. It took six months for the infection to heal and for some tissue to regenerate.
A month later, she had a third surgery to place a smaller implant under the muscle and repair her nipple. Bertinelli said full recovery from the series of surgeries took the rest of the year. She noted that her breasts now differ in size and shape, though she plans a fourth operation to even them out.
Reflecting on the ordeal, Bertinelli wrote, “I’m lucky to have survived. That weekend scared the piss out of me. After a lifetime of always thinking I needed to fix something about myself, this last go-round has been a doozie.”