Following the Paramount+ premiere of the new Wolfgang Van Halen episode of Behind the Music on Thursday (May 2nd), his mom, Valerie Bertinelli, has opened up about her tumultuous marriage to Eddie Van Halen. The actress posted a video on Instagram, admitting that she had turned her relationship with the late rock star into “some sort of fantasy, soulmate recreation of history.”
“I was finally able to watch Wolfie’s Behind the Music,” began Bertinelli. “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.”
She continued, “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, “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.”
She concluded, “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. 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.”
The Wolfgang episode of Behind the Music is now available to stream via Paramount+. Fans can also catch Wolfgang on the road during his extensive tour with his band Mammoth WVH. They kick off a new headlining spring US tour on Saturday (May 4th), followed by dates supporting Metallica, Foo Fighters, and Creed throughout the rest of the year. Pick up tickets to Mammoth WVH’s upcoming tour dates here.
Watch Valerie Bertinelli’s heart-wrenching reaction to the Behind the Music episode below.
