Valerie Bertinelli Admits Eddie Van Halen Was Not Her ‘Soulmate’ in Emotional Instagram Video

Valerie Bertinelli opened up about her marriage to the late Eddie Van Halen after watching her son Wolfgang Van Halen’s episode of Behind the Music, and she revealed that their relationship was never what she originally thought it was.

“Seeing what I had turned of Ed’s and my relationship — into some sort of fantasy, soulmate recreation of history,” Valerie, 64, said, in a clip posted on Instagram on Thursday, May 2. “I fell in love with him when I was 20, and it rapidly declined into drugs and alcohol and infidelity. Nothing that makes you feel loved and wanted and cared for. Nothing that would scream soulmate, that’s for sure.”

The Hot in Cleveland alum was visibly upset throughout the video as she talked about her life with the rocker.

“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,” Valerie 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.”

Valerie and Eddie met backstage at a concert in 1980, and just a year later, the couple said “I do.” Their relationship was a bit of a rollercoaster and not long after they tied the knot, Eddie was hit with a paternity suit. However, it was eventually thrown out of court and the couple was back on track. Eddie’s partying ways eventually rubbed off on Valerie and she discussed her decision to quit using drugs in her 2008 book, Losing It.

“I was done with coke. I didn’t like the way it made me feel,” she wrote. “It made sense that I was angry. It wasn’t one thing or ­another as much as it was everything together. There was a lot going on: Ed’s fights with Dave [David Lee Roth], Ed’s drinking and coke, his obsessive work habits.”

They remained married for more than 20 years and separated in 2001. Their divorce was finalized a few years later in 2007.

Despite their divorce and the problems in their relationship, Valerie and Eddie managed to work through their differences and were on good terms until he passed away from cancer on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65.

In April, Valerie spoke to People about her love for Eddie before he died.

“He knew how much I loved him,” she recalled. “I knew how much he loved me. The last words he said to me and to Wolfie were, ‘I love you.’ Ed was very giving with his heart. He wore it on his sleeve.”