The majority of people were shocked to learn about Eddie Van Halen’s death in October 2020. Although he had battled cancer in the public eye for several years, he appeared to be in good health in the years before his death. More than simply the loss of a rock hero, the tragedy meant that Van Halen, one of the best bands in rock history, would never record or play live again.
Van Halen’s ex-wife, Valerie Bertinelli, remained close to Eddie even after they had separated some years before his passing. Van Halen shared his final, poignant, and impactful words with Bertinelli and their son, Wolfgang.
In her autobiography Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, Bertinelli wrote, “‘I love you’ are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me, And they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing.”
She added, “I can’t explain the feelings Ed and I had for each other. Who really knows had he not died. I doubt it. I loved him more than I know how to explain and there’s nothing sexual about it. It was more than that. And Ed and I understood that.”
Bertinelli claimed that despite Van Halen’s 2007 divorce, their relationship remained strong because of their mutual affection for Wolfgang. “There is no greater love than what we had between the two of us and with that, we made this beautiful son.”
In the biography, Bertinelli reveals that their dissolution was eventually brought on by Van Halen’s drug abuse and incapacity to stay sober. Bertinelli never lost her affection for Van Halen despite the pressure. “I hated the drugs and the alcohol but I never hated him. I saw his pain.”