Valerie Bertinelli Admits Eddie Van Halen Was ‘Not a Soulmate’

Valerie Bertinelli has opened up about her relationship with Eddie Van Halen, admitting the Van Halen guitar god was “not a soulmate.”

In a video shared via her Instagram account (which you can see below), the actress explained that she recently watched her son Wolfgang Van Halen’s episode of Behind the Music.

“It was not easy,” Bertinelli revealed. “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.”

READ MORE: Love Stinks: 18 Messy Rock Star Divorces

Bertinelli, who was clearly moved by the docuseries episode on her son, then proceeded to give an earnest assessment of her relationship with Eddie.

“I fell in love with him when I was 20, and it rapidly declined into drugs, and alcohol, and infidelity,” she confessed. “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,” Bertinelli continued. “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.”

How Long Was Valerie Bertinelli With Eddie Van Halen?

Bertinelli first met Eddie backstage at a Van Halen concert in 1980. The rock star and the actress were married a year later and immediately became a Hollywood “it” couple.

READ MORE: The Best Song From Every Van Halen Album

In 1991, the two welcomed Wolfgang, their only child together, into the world. Though the marriage seemed perfect to the outside world, addiction and infidelity took their toll. The couple split in 2001 and finalized their divorce in 2007.

Still, Bertinelli and Van Halen managed to stay close over the years and she was one of the final people with the rocker prior to his 2020 death. “We had some very difficult, very challenging times, but we had some beautiful times too,” the actress reflected in 2021.