Eddie Van Halen’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli recently discussed her new book, “Enough Already: Learning To Love The Way I Am Today”, in a recent interview with Brigitte Quinn on 1010 WINS. Bertinelli reflected on the special relationship she shared with her late ex-husband. It was previously noted that Eddie Van Halen ‘wanted to fight’ before his death.
Valerie Bertinelli opens up on alcohol and drug issues of Eddie Van Halen
Valerie said that both of them were very different people from the way they were portrayed in pop culture. She also went on to reveal the struggles of Eddie with alcohol and drug abuse. Van Halen as an avid user of the drug cocaine.
“We were really kind of homebodies,” she said. “Except for our jobs — mine on television and Ed’s in front of thousands and thousands of people playing — those were just things that we did; that wasn’t who we are. And we kind of lived a very quiet, sheltered life together. I mean, there were some crazy times — yes, because there was drugs and alcohol; I mean, the ’80s were crazy — but when you get down to it, Ed had the most generous heart. He was so kind. He just didn’t know how to be that way with himself because he was in so much pain and he dealt with his pain through drugs and alcohol. And I was too young to really be as compassionate as I could have been back then.”
Bertinelli split with Van Halen in 2002 after 21 years of marriage. They officially divorced in 2007. Eddie then went on to marry Janie Liszewski in 2009, while Valerie also remarried, tying the knot with Tom Vitale in 2011. Valerie previously divulged that both marriages were struggling before Eddie’s death. She eventually filed for separation from Vitale in November 2021.
Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had tongue surgery. He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Situation worsened in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness. Eddie passed away in October 2020 at the age of 65 at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.
