Valerie Bertinelli reflects on final moments with ex before his death
In a new memoir being published this month, Valerie Bertinelli opens up about her relationship with her late ex-husband Eddie Van Halen and shares what she says happened during the Van Halen guitarist's final moments.
People shared an exclusive excerpt from the book, titled "Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today," in which Bertinelli revealed that she and son Wolfgang -- her and Van Halen's only child -- had been visiting the cancer-stricken rock legend daily in the hospital until his death on Oct. 6, 2020.
"'I love you' are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me," the actress wrote in the book, according to People, "and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing."
Bertinelli noted that's Van Halen's second wife, Janie Liszewski, and his brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, were also there.
Bertinelli and Van Halen were married in 1981 and separated in 2001, eventually divorcing in 2007 -- his drug and alcohol issues being a major factor, she said -- but Bertinelli wrote that she and Van Halen grew closer again as he became seriously ill.
"I hated the drugs and the alcohol, but I never hated him," she explained. "I saw his pain."
"I loved Ed more than I know how to explain," she said. "I loved his soul."
Bertinelli also revealed that around Thanksgiving in 2019, Van Halen privately gave her a gold pendant he had bought while in Germany for cancer treatments.
"I hope you don't think it's weird … that I bought my ex-wife this gift and didn't get my wife anything," Bertinelli said Van Halen told her with tears in his eyes. "I just love you."
"He want[ed] me to know he messed up [during our marriage]," she said.
"Enough Already" will be released Jan. 18.
