she uses visualizations of herself beating the
disease to help keep her mind calm and fo-
cused. “Your mind can drive you crazy chat-
tering away telling you that you have cancer
— you can get stuck very easily in fear,” Val-
erie says. “But for me, there are far more
things worse than cancer.”
In fact, knowing that her condition was
terminal has helped Valerie to live with gus-
to for the past six years. “I refuse to have the
Sword of Damocles hanging over my head,”
says the actress, who has worked steadily in
theater and television since receiving her di-
agnosis. She calls being healthy enough to
compete on the 17th season of Dancing With
the Stars in 2013 an “absolutely wonderful”
experience. “Nobody wants to dwell on the
fact that death is ahead,” she says. “You have
to have things to look forward to because it’s
a reality that we are all terminal. None of us
are getting out of this alive.”
Valerie “really took the time out to smell
the roses after the diagnosis,” says Del-
la Casa. “She appreciates the life she has
left, and I think that’s what’s given her more
time. Every time she opens her eyes, she re-
members to enjoy her day.”
Most of all, Valerie has used these past
COVER STORY
“RhodaMorgenstern gave a wonderful
impetusandpropulsion to my career,” says
Valerie,whoplayedthe BFF on The Mary
TylerMooreShowbefore starring on the
spinoffRhoda. “Ireally got the Rhoda flavor
fromstudyingmy [former] stepmother,
Angela,who’sItalian, not Jewish.”
Valerie posed with Flip Wilson
(a s Geraldine) and Tony Randall
af ter she won the 1975 best
comedy actress Emmy for Rhoda.
“I ’m experiencing incrediblejoy,”
Valerie said in her speech.“And
lo ve for Mary, almost morethan
anybody, I guess, becauseshe’s
the reason I’m standing here.”
“I learned a great deal from
Valerie,” says Jason
Bateman, who played
her son on the ’80s
sitcom Valerie. “She
can put anyone at
ease with a laugh and
an energy that’s
intoxicating.”
Valerie’s
Greatest
Roles
Daughter
Cristina,
who is also
an actress,
“has been
marvelous,”
says Valerie.
20 August 5, 2019 CLOSER
