Right now, Valerie Bertinelli is in the process of promoting her new book, Enough Already: Learning to Love The Way I Am Today. A big part of that book is her relationship with her ex-husband Eddie Van Halen, who tragically passed away in 2020. Now, Valerie has addressed the idea that she caused the band’s split with singer David Lee Roth — though she does make it clear that Roth was the member of the band who disliked her.
During a recent appearance on Rob Lowe’s podcast ‘Literally! With Rob Lowe,” Valerie discussed how dynamics changed within Van Halen once she got together with Eddie (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“After Ed and I became involved, all of a sudden there was this rule that there was no girlfriends and no wives allowed on the road.
“I got along great with Al [Van Halen, drums] and with Mike [Anthony, bass]. It was someone else. I don’t know why he didn’t like me, but what are you gonna do? I don’t know why he didn’t like me. I mean, I was always nice to him. I honestly don’t know.
“One day I’d like to sit down with him and go, ‘Dude, what did I do? Honestly, I’ve always been a fan of yours. I think you’re a brilliant frontman, I think you’re a brilliant songwriter, I love your lyrics. Why don’t you like me? What did I do?’”
Rough.
Obviously, I don’t know Bertinelli, David Lee Roth, anyone involved in Van Halen, or even Rob Lowe, so take what I say with a fist-sized grain of salt, BUT: this sounds unsurprising. David Lee Roth has never come across to me as a dude who’d let anything or anyone cramp his good time, and having his high-flying guitarist in love with a pretty face certainly might do that. Then again, maybe Bertinelli was Lady Macbeth behind the scenes. What do I know?
Listen to the full interview below: