Valerie Bertinelli shared her regrets and joys regarding Van Halen past and present during a recent appearance on “The View”.
Bertinelli, who has written extensively about her marriage to Eddie in her new memoir titled Enough Already, said the reason for their divorce in 2007 was mainly due to his abuse of drugs and alcohol. It was a world she didn’t want her son Wolfgang exposed to. But, looking back on it today, she’s able to see things from a different perspective.
“We divorced because I wasn’t able to handle…I wanted to show Wolfie a different life than the drugs and the alcohol that Ed was abusing himself with, and [Ed] regretted that as well,” said Bertinelli. “I wish I had been able to be more compassionate and be able to see the pain that he was going through as opposed to just the drugs and the alcohol. There was a reason – that was his only tool in his toolbox to deal with the pain just as food was mine.”
Despite the divorce, Bertinelli says her bond with Eddie never ended.
“I never stopped loving him,” she said. “I always wanted the best for him. It just became more like a sister-brother love.”
In the second half of the interview, Bertinelli expressed her joy in seeing her son Wolfgang follow in his father’s footsteps and become a successful musician.
“I couldn’t be prouder. I am crazy over the moon,” she said. “He is so talented. Crazy talented. He played every instrument, he wrote every song, he sang every note [on his album Mammoth WVH]. And then to be nominated for Best Rock Song [Grammy]. So, it’s like, song writing. I’m over the moon.”