Eddie Van Halen’s first wife, Valerie Bertinelli, talks about the legendary guitarist’s death in her new book “Enough Already: Learning To Love The Way I Am Today”.
In the book, which arrives on January 18, Valerie reveals that she and their son, Wolfgang, were both at Eddie’s side at the time of his passing after losing his battle with cancer in October 2020. Also on hand were Eddie’s second wife, Janie Liszewski, and his brother, Alex Van Halen.
People magazine has published an excerpt from the book in which Valerie recalled saying to Eddie just days before his death as they cried together: “Maybe next time, right? Maybe next time we’ll get it right.”
Eddie’s death on October 6, 2020 came in “slow motion,” according to Valerie, who said she got a call from Wolfgang that morning telling her “that Ed’s breathing has changed and that I have to get to the hospital ASAP.”
“‘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 wrote.
She said after 20 minutes of silence, they started sharing stories about the iconic musician and began laughing, not crying.
“Suddenly, all of us are cracking up,” she wrote. “We laugh — and it is so much better than crying.”
Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli separated in 2002 after 21 years of marriage and officially divorced in 2007. Eddie went on to marry Liszewski in 2009, while Valerie would go on to get hitched with Tom Vitale in 2011.