Valerie Bertinelli’s shock confession about late rocker Eddie Van Halen: ‘Wasn’t a soulmate’

Eddie Van Halen of the group Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli attend the NAMM (or National Association of Music Merchants) Show at McCormick Place, Chicago in 1983. Photo / Getty Images

Valerie Bertinelli has admitted her late ex-husband Eddie Van Halen “wasn’t a soulmate”.

The One Day at a Time star was just 21 years old when she tied the knot with the rocker - who died of cancer in October 2020 - in 1981 and they were married for more than 20 years before separating in 2001 and divorcing in 2007.

Now, looking back on their reunion, she admitted she has turned their relationship into a “fantasy recreation of history”.

Explaining she had sat down to watch her son Wolfgang Van Halen’s episode of Behind the Music on Paramount+, the 64-year-old star told her Instagram followers: “It was not easy. 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.”

Bertinelli went on to recall how her relationship with the Jump hitmaker “rapidly declined” because of his drug and alcohol abuse, as well as infidelity.

American musician Eddie Van Halen. Photo / Getty Images

She added: “Nothing that makes you feel loved and wanted and cared for. Nothing that would scream soulmate, that’s for sure.

“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.”

But the Golden Globe-winning actress is thankful for the fact the marriage gave her her beloved son.

She said: “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.”

Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli during 1994 NBC TCA in Pasadena, California, United States. Photo / Getty Images

Wolfgang himself admitted it has been “difficult” to open up about his father on Behind the Music.

He wrote on X: “I had the honor of being asked to tell my story on Behind The Music.

“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.(sic)”