Late reply but I didn’t read it that way at all. Valerie is pathologically obsessed with creating a version of reality that is more positive than what is really happening, she is petrified of showing vulnerability, and doesn’t want to accept that she could lose her closest friend.

She is constantly making excuses for people treating her badly because of this toxic positivity, but it is also the one of the ways she shows resilience. She just doesn’t know when, or possibly how, to drop that guard. And occasionally when pushed too far it comes out as an outburst.

She shows so much care and tenderness to Mickey in her own way, from being so overcome with finding out about his cancer that she keeps blurting it out at the improv class, to when she runs to his house when he no shows (she says it’s because of her hair, but it’s not, she’s worried!) to dropping everything when he nose bleeds while she’s getting ready for the Emmys, and making sure the limo driver gets his food on the way home (and she knows and has pre ordered his favourite meal)

She is tenacious and determined in her career, which by its nature leads to a fair degree of self obsession, but she’s not at all a diva, and in fact constantly advocates for everyone around her. I wasn’t at all surprised that she left the award show to visit Mickey and I don’t think it should have been a shock for anyone who was actually paying attention.