Valerie Bertinelli Gives Tearful Update 3 Months After Ex-Husband Eddie Van Halen’s Death: ‘It’s Been Rough’

Valerie Bertinelli is offering a look inside her family’s “rough” past few months after the Oct. 6 death of her ex-husband Eddie Van Halen. The iconic rocker, with whom the One Day at a Time actress shares son Wolfgang, 29, died at just 65 following a lengthy battle with cancer, leaving his family reeling at the loss.

During Monday’s TODAY show, Bertinelli got teary when asked by Hoda Kotb how she was holding up. “It’s been rough — very bittersweet,” she admitted. She and Wolfgang are “doing OK,” she continued, adding that they spent the holidays together. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together,” she said, letting out a sob as a photo with her son and Eddie appeared onscreen.

“It’s hard. I’ve gone to text him [Eddie] a few dozen times and it’s like, ‘Oh, no I can’t text him right now,’” Bertinelli recalled. The Touched By an Angel actress married the Van Halen rocker in April 1981 after first meeting him at one of his concerts. They welcomed their son in March 1991, and split more than a decade later, with their divorce being finalized in December 2007. Bertinelli has since revealed that her ex’s substance abuse issues were the main cause for their divorce, as well as his refusal to quit smoking, despite his cancer diagnosis.

The two remained close as co-parents of their son, who announced on Oct. 6 the death of his father. “I can’t believe I’m having to write this, but my father, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen, has lost his long and arduous battle with cancer this morning,” Wolfgang wrote on Twitter. “He was the best father I could ever ask for. Every moment I’ve shared with him on and off stage was a gift. My heart is broken and I don’t think I’ll ever fully recover from this loss. I love you so much, Pop.”

While Wolfgang is a talented musician in his own right, he told Entertainment Tonight in November that him replacing his dad in Van Halen would “never happen.” The Mammoth WVH artist joked his dad would likely be “really pissed off” at him if he did take his place. “He’d probably be like, ‘What are you doing playing my stuff? Go do your stuff,’” he shared. “He would’ve been really upset, like, ‘You have all this music you’re sitting on. Why wouldn’t you go forward with that?’”