But for her big break, they came to her. At the age of 15 Valerie received a phone call from her agent that Norman Lear Productions wanted to meet with her about a new sitcom pilot, All About Us. Valerie stood out from the pack because she just happened to resemble Norman Lear's daughter. All About Us was renamed One Day at a Time, and history was made.
Valerie's TV-movie career was launched in 1979 with the film Young Love, First Love. She continued starring in such films throughout One Day at a Time's run, appearing in such films as The Promise of Love, The Princess and the Cabbie, and I Was a Mail Order Bride. Wisely, Valerie used her celebrity status to expand her horizons...and provide a venue for her talent that would prove valuable in later years.
In 1980, love walked in...in the form of Eddie Van Halen, guitarist for the rock group Van Halen. Valerie met him backstage at one of the band's concerts and couldn't get him off her mind. Eddie was having the same problem. Three days later he called and they began dating, setting of a media frenzy.
It was the stuff tabloid magazines were made of. The sweet, innocent actress falls for the original bad boy. Nice guy though Eddie might have been, the press played the stereotypes to the hilt. But they managed to ignore the hype and fall in love anyway. Only months after their initial meeting, Valerie and Eddie were married. CBS publicists chose not to call attention to the union and the press balked. Speculation was rampant that the marriage was doomed.
In 1984, One Day at a Time aired its last episode. For her first post-sitcom movie, Valerie chose a character that was a complete departure from her sweetheart image. In The Seduction of Gina, Valerie played a gambling addict whose life is on a downward spiral. But it was her next role, Shattered Vows, that would gain her the respect she'd always deserved.
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