Inside Valerie Bertinelli's Heartbreaking Final Goodbye To Eddie Van Halen

Even if it ended in divorce, Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen had a great love story. The two names were some of the hottest in the '80s and '90s, and, with Van Halen being a bonafide rockstar and Bertinelli a famous actor, their romance was one for the books. The couple wed in 1991 but separated in 2001, but it wasn't until 2007 that they finalized their divorce. The pair welcomed one son, Wolfgang Van Halen, during their time together. Following their split, both Bertinelli and Van Halen remarried. Bertinelli married Tom Vitale in 2010, but she filed separation papers in November 2021.

The "Hot in Cleveland" star has been very open about several topics in her life, including struggles with weight and her love for her son and late husband. Shortly after Van Halen's death in October 2020, Bertinelli took to Instagram to share a sweet family photo and a tribute to her late husband. "40 years ago my life changed forever when I met you. You gave me the one true light in my life, our son, Wolfgang," she wrote, adding that he had been so strong and positive during his cancer treatments. "I'm so grateful Wolfie and I were able to hold you in your last moments," she wrote. "I will see you in our next life my love."

She also shared a heartfelt tribute in her new memoir that's enough to bring anyone to tears.

Valerie Bertinelli shared "I love you's" with Eddie Van Halen before his death

Even though the marriage between Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli ended, she still has nothing but good things to say about him. Bertinelli's memoir "Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today," details her love story with the rocker. People released an excerpt from the book. Amid Van Halen's terminal cancer diagnosis, he and Bertinelli became close again and on Thanksgiving Day 2019, Van Halen came by Bertinelli's home and asked to speak to her in private, so they made their way into a friend's car to chat. 

"I hope you don't think it's weird, you know, that I bought my ex-wife this gift and didn't get my wife anything," he tearily began. "I just love you," he told Bertinelli as he handed her a bag with a gold bar. "He wants me to know he messed up [during our marriage]," she wrote in the gut-wrenching passage. "I contributed to our troubles too and I am also sorry." On the day of his death, he and Bertinelli (and their son Wolfgang Van Halen) exchanged "I love you's" before he took his last breath.

During an event for Talk Shop Live, Bertinelli said what she missed most about her ex-husband. "What I miss most recently about Ed was when [son] Wolfie got nominated for a Grammy," she said of the 2019 nod for "Mammoth," because she couldn't share her joy with Eddie.