The actress and Drew Crew member admitted that leaving her date hanging was a “really neglectful, unkind thing for me to do.”

Valerie Bertinelli apologizes on air to man she stood up when she was 19: ‘This haunts me to this day’

The actress and Drew Crew member admitted that leaving her date hanging was a "really neglectful, unkind thing for me to do."

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

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November 19, 2025 3:35 p.m. ET

Valerie Bertinelli on 'The Drew Barrymore Show'. Credit:

The Drew Barrymore Show

Valerie Bertinelli is coming clean about one of her biggest dating regrets. **

The *One Day at a Time *alum has issued an apology on air to an unnamed man whom she stood up at 19.**

"I'll be the first to release a confession that I have never told anyone before, and it fills me with so much shame," Bertinelli began while speaking on a dating panel on Wednesday's episode of *The Drew Barrymore Show*. "And this happened when I was a teenager, okay? My confession is actually going to be a public apology."

Oliver Hudson, Taye Diggs, and sex and relationship expert Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry on 'The Drew Barrymore Show'.

The Drew Barrymore Show

The actress went on to admit that she once "ghosted a man" with whom she had planned to go on a date.**

"I'm so sorry for not showing up. I really apologize," Bertinelli said on the show. "I know that I ghosted our date and that I was supposed to show up at a certain time and I didn't, and it's a really, really horrible thing to do to somebody … I think it was a really neglectful, unkind thing for me to do."**

She continued, "I've never done it again because this haunts me to this day. I just want to say I'm very sorry."

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Bertinelli went on to explain to her fellow panelists — Oliver Hudson, Taye Diggs, and sex and relationship expert Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry — that the reason she didn't show up was because she was suffering from a bad case of pre-date jitters.**

She continued, "I was too nervous, and instead of calling — obviously, there were no cellphones back then, but I'm not gonna give myself any excuses. I should've called him and said, 'I'm just too nervous to meet you. I think I'm gonna not show up.'"**

Henry then asked, "What would that have felt like to have said that, though? 'I'm too nervous to meet you?'"**

Bertinelli replied, "That would've been giving away the secret of me not being the perfect people pleaser. And instead I pleased him *less*."

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When Diggs asked how old Bertinelli was at the time of the ghosting, she replied, "I was a teenager. I was 19." **

He then encouraged her to give teen Valerie a bit of grace. "Oh, go easy on yourself!"

Valerie Bertinelli talks about ghosting an unnamed suitor when she was 19 on 'The Drew Barrymore Show'.

The Drew Barrymore Show

After revealing her less-than-amazing dating etiquette to the world, Bertinelli quickly tried to keep the ball rolling to focus on the panel's next relationship woe. "Okay, good. Can somebody else talk now?" she asked. "Let's get to our next confession!"**

Bertinelli isn't the only *Drew Barrymore Show* star who has discussed the brutal experience of ghosting. Back in March, Barrymore recalled getting ghosted out of nowhere by an unnamed suitor. **

"I texted him and I was like, 'Lovely to see you again the other night.' We went back and forth twice and then he ended with 'ha.' And I haven't heard anything," Barrymore said at the time. "So it just happens. I don't know why!"**

"I would never do that. It doesn't cross my mind to behave like that," she continued. "Like, if you put a fishing pole in it, why aren't you gonna follow through?"

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Source: “EW Talk”