The “Hot in Cleveland” actress was married to Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007.

Valerie Bertinelli explains why she ‘ignored’ son Wolfgang’s musical talent ‘for as long as I possibly could’

The "Hot in Cleveland" actress was married to Eddie Van Halen from 1981 to 2007.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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April 30, 2026 6:23 p.m. ET

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Valerie Bertinelli and son Wolfgang Van Halen. Credit:

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

- Valerie Bertinelli said Thursday that she "ignored" her son's musical talent "for as long as I possibly could" because she was "afraid."

- The 'Hot in Cleveland' actress was married to Wolfgang's father, the late Eddie Van Halen, from 1981 to 2007.

- Wolfgang, who was named after Mozart, has released multiple albums and received a Grammy nomination.

Valerie Bertinelli wasn't wild about her only child, son Wolfgang Van Halen, going into music.

"It was always in him," the *Hot in Cleveland* actress said Thursday on *The Drew Barrymore Show*. "I ignored it for as long as I possibly could.”

When Barrymore asked Bertinelli, who's appeared on the talk show as a lifestyle expert, why she felt that way, Bertinelli pointed to Wolfgang's father, Eddie Van Halen, who died of throat cancer in 2020. He and Bertinelli were married from 1981 to 2007.

"Cause the business sucks," Bertinelli answered. "And I was afraid for my son to go into a business that tried to destroy his father. Ed was able to get through it. But it's a really hard business."

Eddie's band Van Halen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, having sold tens of millions of records with hits such as "Jump," "Hot for Teacher," "Why Can't This Be Love," and "Right Now."

In hindsight, Bertinelli said her son's life really couldn't have gone any other way.

“Our house always had instruments, like there were guitars on every wall. There was a piano, there was a drum set, there was Uncle Al's drum set at the studio, which was just walking distance away," she recalled. "So even as a little baby, before he could walk, you can see him just constantly plucking on strings and just fascinated by what Ed was doing on the guitar."

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Wolfgang, who's now 35, was even named after famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Bertinelli explained that she had some regret over that moniker.

"Now, looking back, it's like, how could I saddle some man with Wolfgang *and* Van Halen?" she asked. "It's like, what if he doesn't become a musician?"

Eddie Van Halen and Bertinelli with their son, Wolfgang.

Valerie Bertinelli/Instagram

He did, of course, even playing with Van Halen, officially beginning in 2007. Billed as Mammoth WVH, the rocker has released several albums and received a Grammy Awards nomination in 2022.

Bertinelli and the elder Van Halen remained friends during his later years.

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"I can't help but love the man," she told PEOPLE in March. "I went through so much with him, and I'm so grateful for the last year that we had. There'll always be a huge part of my heart that contains Ed. He gave me the greatest gift, our son."

She added, "I've never loved another man the way I loved Ed. And that's just the way it is."

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