Valerie Bertinelli still had love for ex-husband Eddie Van Halen after their divorce.
“We hurt each other’s feelings, but we always tried to do the right thing,” Bertinelli recalled in her Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect memoir, released in March 2026.
Bertinelli recalled that she and Van Halen, who were married from 1981 to 2007, had a “flawed love.” The former couple shared one son, Wolfgang Van Halen, born in March 1991.
“Even when we were angry, we stayed loving,” Bertinelli recalled. “It changed, evolved, and grew back different but stronger than it had been at the beginning of our relationship. It healed us.”
Before Eddie’s October 2020 death, he and Bertinelli made amends.
“At the last Thanksgiving we shared, he took me outside and opened his heart in a way he said was way past due,” the actress shared. “We both did. We found a place of deep love and forgiveness for our past mistakes.”
Keep scrolling for a look back at why Bertinelli and Eddie split:
Bertinelli and Eddie separated in 2001. However, their divorce wasn’t finalized until six years later, in December 2007.
“The parties have resolved all their issues amicably in mediation,” court documents, obtained by People at the time, revealed. “Neither spouse shall take unfair advantage of the other spouse.”
Why Did Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen Get a Divorce?In her 2008 memoir, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, Bertinelli revealed what led to her split from Eddie. Bertinelli alleged that Eddie cheated on her, claiming that she heard him once on the phone saying that he wanted “out” of their marriage.
“One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like,” Bertinelli previously said, referring to her son. “Ed and I weren’t treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that’s what Wolfie was seeing.”
In her March 2026 book, Getting Naked, Bertinelli wrote that Eddie always “wanted to make it right” with her.
“I was told that every time I would walk out of a room, he would look around and say, ‘The biggest mistake of my life was letting her go,’” she wrote.
When Did Eddie Van Halen Die?Eddie died at age 65 in October 2020 following a stroke after experiencing a lengthy battle with throat cancer.
“My final words to him when he was taking his last breaths in the hospital were, ‘I love you,’” she wrote.
What Has Valerie Bertinelli Said About Ex-Husband Eddie Van Halen?Bertinelli has spoken positively about Eddie following his death. In her March 2026 book, she wrote that he “didn’t get enough time” in life.
“He was making amends the year before he passed. He was talking to all the people in his life,” the actress shared. “He was cold-calling them. It was sweet — and that was Ed at the core, sweet.”
