He was the youngest of five children (three sons and two daughters) born to Giulio, an Italian immigrant who arrived in the US in 1948, and Virginia,[2] a first generation Italian-American.

During potential revenue losses and rising costs, Bernero helped to eliminate more than $80 million in city budget deficits.

[15] During the gubernatorial election, Bernero was a frequent guest on cable news shows, where he was labeled the "Angry Mayor" for his passionate advocacy of his positions.

[18] Bernero campaigned and continued to fundraise throughout February and early March when harassment and non-consensual touching claims by two women came forward.

[21] Bernero abruptly left the campaign trail with an announcement on Facebook[22] on Sunday April 18, 2021, one day before new allegations from multiple women, including a former staffer, were published.

[23] Multiple women came forward about sexual harassment and unwanted touching, starting in 2004 when Bernero was serving in the Michigan Legislature,[19] in 2010, 2013, and 2014 [24] as Mayor of Lansing, with accounts of unsolicited phone calls, groping, and propositions for threesomes.

In June 2021, a former staffer, Elizabeth Hart, whose claims include she fled Michigan to escape Bernero's influence ruined her career, sued him in civil court for damages stemming from his sexual harassment and assault.

[25] The lawsuit claimed Bernero grabbed and tugged at her hair, stroked her shoulders and neck, even touching her knee while putting his finger to his lips, and twice touching the staffer's exposed feet, and claiming he "had a foot fetish" and the Plaintiff had "beautiful feet" [26] and pressured her "to drink alcohol he kept in his desk".

[30] In an October 15, 2021 statement, Hart called the agreed settlement "a form of justice"[31] and that during the "extremely stressful"[32] lawsuit, she was "petitioned to submit to unnecessary and violating exercises, such as full physical exams and a complete listing of her sexual history, that had no relevance to her degrading experiences with Bernero",[31] and called for a reexamination of sexual assault definitions in Michigan.