Speaking in a new interview, actress Valerie Bertinelli has offered a bracingly honest evaluation of her life with Eddie Van Halen during the 26 years they were married.
The couple met backstage at a Van Halen concert in Shreveport, Louisiana, on August 22, 1980. Bertinelli, then 20 and in the midst of her long-running role on the hit sitcom One Day at a Time, had seen Van Halen’s face on an eight-track tape of his group’s music and was immediately interested in him. She described it as love at first sight.
We got married far too young, but I don’t know how else we would have done it.”
— Valerie Bertinelli
Eddie, then 25 and widely celebrated as rock’s reigning electric guitar virtuoso, was as focused as ever on guitar and his career. Nevertheless, the couple began dating and, within a year, were married.
Article continues belowBut Bertinelli says it was too much too soon.
“We grew up together. We got married far too young, but I don’t know how else we would have done it,” she says in a chat on The Bossticks podcast that aired March 19.
“Our lives were insane.”
Between her acting career and Van Halen’s devotion to guitar, his band, recording, and touring, life was chaotic.
“We waited 10 years to have Wolfie,” she says of their son, Wolfgang, who was born in 1991. “We went through a lot in those 10 years—basically the ‘80s, which I don’t remember too much of between the drugs and the alcohol.
I’m not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun… but I would never — I would not do it again.”
— Valerie Bertinelli
“It was fun. You know what? I’m not gonna lie, it was a lot of fun… but I would never — I would not do it again.”
Although their relationship had its problems and eventually ended in divorce in 2007, Bertinelli says her feelings for Van Halen remained strong and grew in the years before his death in 2020, when he was fighting cancer.
“I love him dearly,” she says. “I just love the father of my son that I knew since I was 20. He would always be one of my dearest friends ’cause he was just — he was Ed. He was just a huge part of my life.”
Bertinelli said she realized that neither of them had ever dealt with their past traumas. That, in turn, made it easier for her to have sympathy for him.
“Near the end of his life, I could be much more compassionate,” she said, “because I understand now.”
Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020, from a stroke following his battle with cancer. He continued to make music throughout his final years, some of which his brother, Alex, is currently working on for release as Van Halen’s final album.
Wolfgang, who played bass in Van Halen alongside his father from 2006 onward, fronts his own group, Mammoth. He’s shared that while he wants to cut his own path as a musician, he holds one lesson from his father dear to his heart.
