Eddie Van Halen led a wild rock star lifestyle in his prime, yet he lived alone for his final two years and eventually declared his love to his ex-wife while being married. Let’s examine the music icon’s life and untimely demise.
Eddie Van Halen, who was born in January 1955, went on to become one of the greatest guitarists in rock history. When Halen met the stunning Valerie Bertinelli, his life appeared to be in order as his musical career was at its pinnacle.
When Bertinelli made an appearance on “One Day At A Time,” she soon became the nation’s favorite girl next door. She attended a Van Halen concert in Shreveport, Louisiana, at the age of 20, after her brothers invited her. When she saw the guitarist, it was love at first sight.
When Bertinelli received a call from Van Halen three days after the event asking if she would want to meet him, she was taken aback and pleasantly thrilled. “So I went out and visited,” she recalled, “and we never parted after that.”
Despite Van Halen’s reputation as a bad boy, Bertinelli believed him to be a gentleman. Shortly after they began dating, he insisted on sleeping in a separate bed since he was that kind of gentleman.
Within eight months of their initial encounter, their relationship moved quickly, and they had already decided on a wedding date. However, in the months building up to their big day, Halen had developed a bad habit. He was smoking and drinking every day, despite Noel E. Monk, his manager, pleading with him not to.
On April 11, 1981, the couple walked down the aisle at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Westwood, California, with him promising to remain sober on their wedding day.
After the ceremony, Monk guided the newlyweds through the throng of photographers till they arrived at their waiting limo without incident. Halen and Bertinelli, however, were not there when guests arrived for the reception at the famed Grayhall house in Beverly Hills.
They would be located by Monk in one of the mansion’s restrooms. In fact, in the brief time they had been gone, Halen had managed to become drunk, and now the crying bride sat upset motionless in her gown, her hair pulled back.
Bertinelli recovered and helped her husband get ready for their reception, which was a far cry from the plans she had made for her wedding day. The friends and family shouted as they exited the restroom holding hands and made a grand entrance into the ballroom.
A rocky marriage may have been predicted by their odd wedding day, but Bertinelli had already married her hero, so that was enough. After being married, the couple appeared to be so in sync that during their first interviews, they mimicked each other’s movements.
They appeared to have a picture-perfect marriage to others. Many females wanted to be with him, but she was the one who won the prize because she had married one of the best musicians of the era. From the inside, however, Bertinelli claims that their union was unhappy and that they were not compatible:
She claims, “I had my obligations, and he had his what he had to do.” And we assumed there would be a relationship if you just shared a home, but there wasn’t.
Despite their marriage gradually disintegrating, the couple enjoyed a happy occasion when Bertinelli gave birth to their son, Wolfgang, in 1991. Before divorcing in 2007, they shared 16 years of raising their kid. She revealed:
“I decided that I would finish raising my son after Ed and I got divorced. I’m going to leave, have about 40 cats, and just get some nice weight.”
Bertinelli loves her son, who she claims frequently visits with his girlfriend, Andrea, and regards him as one of her greatest accomplishments. After playing for a spell with his heavy metal band Tremonti, Wolfgang joined his late father’s band Van Halen as the bassist.
When she wasn’t filming “One Day at a Time,” Bertinelli attempted for years to keep up with her husband’s rocker lifestyle on Friday and Saturday evenings and during the week. But her difficulties went beyond just that.
She also learned that Van Halen was cheating on her after overhearing a phone conversation in which Van Halen expressed his desire to end the marriage to a person she presumed to be a woman.
A few years later, she had telephone contact from an irate guy who said his wife was having an affair with Van Halen. This was the first concrete evidence. The problems in their marriage weren’t completely the rocker’s fault, though.
Bertinelli also admitted to being unfaithful. A few years into their marriage, she had an affair with the drummer of another band, and a few more years after that, she had a female kiss.
She explained that all she had been looking for was someone to hold her, love her, and pay her the attention she was lacking at home. She regrets taking that turn because she realized there was no justification for being unfaithful. She thought:
“I should have addressed the issues in our marriage, then separated, so that I could later go do something else if I so desired. But it was a colossally bad decision.”
The couple separated in 2001 after 20 years of marriage, but they wouldn’t officially divorced for another six years since there were simply too many difficulties in their union.
Bertinelli stated that her son was the key factor in her decision, as she did not want him to grow up witnessing their unhappy marriage. “To offer Wolfie a clearer picture of how two people who are supposedly in love treat each other is one of the many reasons that Ed and I separated up. Then, she continued:
Wolfie “saw that Ed and I weren’t treating each other like two people who loved each other.”
But that didn’t make things any simpler. Bertinelli turned to stress eating as a coping mechanism. Jalepeo poppers were her comfort food of choice, and she didn’t emerge from her depressed state until she began gaining weight.
Even after their split, the pair remained together despite their rocky relationship until Bertinelli was prepared to move out. They separated peacefully, and Van Halen even gave her permission to move into a new home so that it would be close to both his house and Wolfgang’s school.
She met and fell in love with Tom Vitale after her divorce from Halen was legally finalized in 2007. The couple married on January 1, 2011, in Malibu after Vitale proposed to her in Italy in March 2010. Halen, Bertinelli’s ex-husband, was among the many guests who attended the unique wedding ceremony.
Sadly, Bertinelli filed for divorce at the Los Angeles County Superior Court more than ten years after they were wed, citing “irreconcilable disagreements.”
Van Halen was also not a person who lagged. Janie Liszewski was introduced to him after she began serving as his publicist, and they later fell in love. At first, Liszewski felt privileged to work with the great musician and was eager to travel with him.
They eventually grew close and experienced love sentiments for one another. And on August 4, 2008, while they were on vacation in Hawaii, Van Halen proposed to them by getting down on one knee.
In the grounds of Van Halen’s seven-acre mansion in the hills above Studio City, California, the couple exchanged vows a year later. The wedding was officiated by Alex Van Halen, a licensed pastor, while Wolfgang served as best man.
Liszewski looked stunning in a custom champagne and pink Hanna Hartnell gown accessorized with Bulgari earrings and a matching bracelet. Van Halen and Wolfgang were wearing flip-flop sandals, untucked button-down shirts, and cotton slacks by Sy Devore at the same time.
While Van Halen’s “When Its Love” played in the background, the over 100 guests, including Van Halen’s ex-wife Bertinelli, looked closely as the bride’s mother led her down the aisle.
Van Halen had his initial cancer diagnosis in 2001 and underwent therapy that included having a portion of his tongue removed. However, in 2019, he developed cancer once more, this time mostly in his throat.
As Liszewski had left the home they had shared for the last two years of his life, Bertinelli would later admit that Van Halen had to make the harrowing trek alone.
Nevertheless, Van Halen gave Bertinelli a chance to see them during a Thanksgiving visit. She prepared meals for the visitors, which included her father, brother, sister-in-law, son, and other friends, who were staying at her house.
Van Halen requested a private conversation with Bertinelli after a hearty supper. Because every room in the home was crowded with guests, they left and got into one of their friends’ automobiles.
Halen gave Bertinelli a sleek black box with a plain pure gold bar inside when they had both settled down. He admitted that he had thought about her and purchased the gift while having cancer treatment in Germany. And he said, tears welling up in his eyes:
“I hope it doesn’t strike you as odd. You are aware that I didn’t purchase anything for my wife, but I did for my ex-wife. I simply adore you.”
Despite subsequently claiming to know that his then-wife also loved him and that they were still attempting to maintain their relationship despite no longer cohabitating, she initially declared her love for him.
Halen’s cancer had spread by late September 2020, and he spent the entire period in the hospital. Every day of Van Halen’s hospital stay, Bertinelli and Wolfgang spent time with him.
In his final days, he wasn’t by himself. His wife Liszewski and brother Alex were among the people he was constantly with. Halen sadly passed away on October 6, 2020, but not before expressing his love to Bertinelli and Wolfgang.
Bertinelli revealed that despite their lengthy divorce, Halen and she still had a very intimate bond that nobody else could really comprehend. Even after their marriage ended, they remained in love with one another.
Despite their marriage not being the easiest, Liszewski posted a message of sympathy on Twitter, noting that they had always felt a connection. Tweeted by her:
“My Peep, my love, and my hubby. I’ve had my heart and soul broken into a million pieces. I had no idea it was possible to cry so much or experience such intense sadness.”
Bertinelli revealed on the Kelly Clarkson show that she could still feel Halen’s presence despite being divorced for the past 20 years. The “Taken Away” actress revealed that she had struck a deal with him years earlier that she would be sure to let him know if she ever saw a specific bird.
Years later, when she spotted three birds, she “spoke” to Halem, telling him to send a flock of birds if he were there because she wasn’t sure if three birds still meant his presence. A flock of birds fluttered by before she could finish her sentence.
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