Valerie Bertinelli honors late ex-husband Eddie Van Halen on his birthday
Valerie Bertinelli paid tribute to her late ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, on what would have been his 68th birthday.
The “Hot in Cleveland” alum, 62, shared two black-and-white photos of the former couple on Instagram Thursday, with one of the selfies including their 31-year-old son, Wolfgang.
“🤍,” she captioned the post.
Van Halen died in October 2020 after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 65.
Bertinelli and the legendary guitarist were married for 20 years before splitting in 2001. Their union crumbled under the pressure of the his addiction struggles.
In her 2022 memoir, “Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today,” the actress noted that she “hated the drugs and the alcohol” but “never hated” her former spouse.
“I can’t explain the feelings Ed and I had for each other,” she wrote. “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.”
“There is no greater love than what we had between the two of us and with that, we made this beautiful son,” she added.
Even though the former couple went on to marry other people, they remained friends and grew closer during Van Halen’s illness. Bertinelli was even at his bedside when he died.
“‘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,” the “One Day at a Time” alum wrote in her book.
Wolfgang also took to social media Thursday to remember his father.
“Happy 68th Birthday Pop,” he wrote alongside a sweet snap of the two of them laughing while Wolfgang held a guitar. “Wish I could give you a big hug and tell it to you in person. I love and miss you more than you could ever know.”