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Valerie Bertinelli and Mike Goodnough in June. Photo: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Valerie Bertinelli and her boyfriend Mike Goodnough are going their separate ways.

Bertinelli and Goodnough had been dating long distance since January. (Bertinelli lives in Los Angeles, and Goodnough is East Coast-based.)

Goodnough tells PEOPLE, “Valerie and I are the only two people with insight into our relationship. Neither of us pays much attention to chatter among people outside of it.”

 She said they became friendly when he commented on one of her Instagram posts a few years ago.

“I thought he was interesting,” she said. “It was strictly platonic, but there was something about him that I connected with that felt familiar. A comfort level. He felt like a kindred spirit.”

They first spoke on the phone in January and things began to heat up. “His voice had the most beautiful timbre. I was like ‘Oh, I can’t talk to this man right now because that’s really sexy.’ We both had strong feelings, trying not to admit them,” she said.

The pair quietly went public on April 3 when the Indulge cookbook author stepped out for a filming of The Drew Barrymore Show with him by her side. Goodnough spoke out about their relationship for the first time shortly after.

“I am Valerie Bertinelli’s boyfriend… and that may well be among the most surreal sentences I’ve ever pecked out. But it’s true… and nothing about our actual relationship seems surreal. It just seems… good… lucky… a gift,” he wrote on his Substack called Hoarse Whisperings.

Since then, Bertinelli has sung his praises on social media, and they even made their red carpet debut at the Daytime Emmys in June.

During her PEOPLE cover story interview in April, Bertinelli said they “never go longer than” three weeks “without seeing each other.” But in a July interview with PEOPLE, she said that it had “been challenging” to keep up with it. “The summer has been booked full. It is challenging,” she added.

Valerie Bertinelli and Mike Goodnough.Valerie Bertinelli /Instagram

After being so open about her new love early on, Bertinelli said she wanted to keep her relationship more private going forward.

They said : “It’s like, ‘Oh, but, yeah, I let the cat out of the bag.’ I don’t know. I would like to start keeping it between us and make it a little bit more special.”

“Even though I was so public with it, now part of me wants to just protect,” she said, adding that her boyfriend is “terrific.”

Bertinelli was married to financial planner Tom Vitale from 2011 until 2022, and before that she was married to Van Halen frontman Eddie Van Halen from 1981 until 2007.

She has been candid about her breakups in the past, sharing words of wisdom on social media.

“When something is toxic, and it’s only ever been that…Do your best to heal your way to indifference,” she wrote on her Instagram Story in March 2023, following her divorce. “You do not have to forgive to move on🤍.”

Valerie Bertinelli and Mike Goodnough at the Daytime Emmy Awards.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty

Valerie Bertinelli Says She’s ‘Learning to Trust Again’ with New Boyfriend After Having ‘Trust Destroyed’ Previously

Throughout her relationship with Goodnough, she shared the positive influence he’s had on her self-healing journey.

“Learning to trust again after having that trust destroyed is not an easy thing. Those demons want to protect you from being vulnerable and emotionally exposed ever again,” she said in a June 2024 Instagram post. “This man is worth fighting the rest of my demons for. He is the most thoughtful, kind, gentle, intelligent, funny, and grateful man I’ve ever met.”