Valerie Bertinelli says photographs of herself with Eddie Van Halen still draw criticism from people who question her affection for her late former husband.
“I love Ed. Never stopped loving Ed,” the One Day at a Time star said in an Oct. 6 Instagram video, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The actress said those reactions once upset her, but she now feels able to speak about him without allowing others to dictate her emotions.
Her response followed a tribute marking the sixth anniversary of the guitarist’s death. Van Halen died in 2020 at 65 after battling cancer.
The Photograph She Chose to Remember Eddie
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Bertinelli’s Instagram tribute showed the former couple sitting together in a car, with her laughing beside him. “Photos may fade, like old photos do, but not the memories and never the love,” she wrote.
They married in 1981 and welcomed their only child, Wolfgang Van Halen, before divorcing in 2007.
Eddie married Janie Liszewski in 2009. Bertinelli married Tom Vitale in 2011, and their divorce was finalized in 2022.
Bertinelli Describes Pressure to Take Photographs Down
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Bertinelli captioned her follow-up video, “Strap in haters, let’s go for a little ride.” She described months of criticism that could lead someone to deny loving a former husband.
She also described accusations of obsession and other criticism that could pressure someone to remove a family photograph. Bertinelli characterized those tactics as coercive control, calling it “insidious” and “soul-breaking,” and said she recognized the behavior from her own experiences.
Bertinelli described someone making a night at her son’s concert miserable without explicitly telling her she could not attend.
When discussing the people she loves, Bertinelli named Wolfgang, her daughter-in-law, her mother and her friends, as well as her cats. She said a future romantic partner would also have a place in her heart without displacing anyone already there.
Why She Believes They Still Would Have Divorced
In a March 10 interview with PEOPLE about her memoir, Getting Naked, Bertinelli said she was 20 when she met Van Halen. Looking back, she wished she had understood more about their difficulties and shown him greater compassion.
“We still probably would’ve divorced, because he wasn’t ready to get sober, and I had to protect Wolfie,” she said.
Bertinelli also said she was grateful for the time they had together in his last year. She doubted they would have resumed an intimate relationship, while acknowledging that she had never loved another man in the same way.
Wolfgang Shared His Own Tribute
Wolfgang, now 35, marked the anniversary with a photograph of his father holding him as a baby on his chest.
“It doesn’t get any easier,” he wrote in the message, also shared on Threads. “Love and miss you more than you could ever know, Pop.”
Wolfgang joined Van Halen as its bassist in 2006. In a 2008 father-and-son interview with Guitar World, Eddie recalled inviting him to join after they had been rehearsing with Eddie’s brother, drummer Alex Van Halen. Wolfgang’s first tour as the band’s bassist began in 2007.