Valerie Bertinelli posted a message to her late ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, nearly five years after his death. In a post to her Instagram page, Bertinelli, 65, shared a throwback photo of her and the Van Halen legend and revealed that it is hard watching their son, Wolfgang, follow in his father’s footsteps without him by her side.
“Some days I really do miss you,” Bertinelli captioned the photo. “There will always be a loud absence in these gratifying sideline years. Who do I yap to when there was really only one person I could talk to about Wolfie the way that we did? The pride we both felt. Still feel. I’m grateful for where we landed. Through the ups and the downs to still alight where we did is a blessing.“
“You’d be so proud of Wolf,” she added. “I know we’d be screaming together in the stands watching him on stage. Seeing who could whistle the loudest. I will never not miss being able to experience that with you.”
Bertinelli was married to Van Halen from 1981 to 2007. Wolfgang, 34, is their only child together. The exes had a tumultuous relationship, but were close by the time Van Halen died of cancer in October 2020.
In her 2022 memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today, Bertinelli wrote of her love for Van Halen. “I loved Ed more than I know how to explain. I loved his soul,” she wrote. “Maybe next time. Maybe next time, we’ll get it right,” she recalled telling Van Halen just before he died.
Wolfgang Van Halen Is Thriving in His Music Career
Bertinelli’s emotional post was shared as her son is set to tour with his band Mammoth.
As a young teen, Wolfgang lovingly followed in his famous father’s footsteps as a guitar player and singer. He first toured with Van Halen in 2007, replacing original bass player Michael Anthony.
In 2021, Wolfgang told People magazine that the memory of his father is what keeps him going. “Because if I just gave up and stopped and crawled in a hole, which I feel like doing every day, I know he’d be really pissed off at me,” he said.
Wolfgang also addressed making music at 5150 Studios, where his dad recorded with Van Halen for decades. “This is where I’m going to be recording all my music for the rest of my life. And it’s where my dad, since 1984, had been recording,” he said. “His energy is all throughout this place, and I’m excited to continue the legacy of filling this place with music.”
Wolfgang’s upcoming album with Mammoth, titled The End, drops on Oct. 24 with a supporting U.S. tour starting on Oct. 31.
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