Valerie Bertinelli Addresses Ex Eddie Van Halen's Infidelity, Drug and Alcohol Abuse

The Food Network personality was married to Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007.

By Anna Rumer

Valerie Bertinelli is sharing the darker side of her marriage to Eddie Van Halen. The Food Network personality, 64, took to Instagram to discuss the "brutal" Behind the Music episode on Paramount+ featuring her son, Wolfgang Van Halen, which also reminded her of the rapid "decline" of her marriage. 

"I was finally able to watch Wolfie's Behind the Music. It was not easy," the actress said in the Thursday, May 2 video. "I'd stopped it many times because it was just too brutal to watch for many reasons. One, seeing Wolfie's pain. Two, seeing what a better job I could have done as a parent even though he turned out magnificently. I made a lot of mistakes. And three, seeing what I had turned of Ed's and my relationship – into some sort of fantasy, soulmate recreation of history."

Wolfgang, 33, is the former couple's only child, as they married in 1981 when Bertinelli was 21 and her rockstar husband was 26. The two were married for more than two decades before they separated in 2001 and divorced in 2007. On Oct. 6, 2020, Van Halen died at age 65 from throat cancer.

The Hot in Cleveland star explained that while she and Van Halen were in love, their relationship "rapidly declined" due to her husband's drug and alcohol use in addition to his infidelity – "nothing that makes you feel loved and wanted and cared for. Nothing that would scream soulmate, that's for sure."

Related:

"But after Ed died, I was more than willing to put myself in the grieving widow category for a man that I hadn't lived with for 20 years," an emotional Bertinelli concluded. "What we had together was this beautiful son that we both unconditionally loved. That's what I got out of that marriage was Wolfie, the best thing that ever happened to me. Not a soulmate."

Wolfgang also shared his thoughts about his father and filming Behind the Music in a post on X (formerly Twitter). "I had the honor of being asked to tell my story on Behind The Music," the musician wrote. "It was difficult, but also incredibly cathartic being able to reflect on my experiences, the incredible people I'm blessed to have in my life and most importantly, my bond with my father. I don't normally talk so openly about things, so this was new for me."

Trending Now: