<\/p>\n
Valerie Bertinelli says photographs of herself with Eddie Van Halen still draw criticism from people who question her affection for her late former husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Ed. Never stopped loving Ed,\u201d the One Day at a Time<\/em> star said in an Oct. 6 Instagram video, according to Entertainment Weekly<\/a>.<\/p>\n The actress said those reactions once upset her, but she now feels able to speak about him without allowing others to dictate her emotions.<\/p>\n Her response followed a tribute marking the sixth anniversary of the guitarist\u2019s death. Van Halen died in 2020 at 65 after battling cancer.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bertinelli\u2019s Instagram<\/a> tribute showed the former couple sitting together in a car, with her laughing beside him. \u201cPhotos may fade, like old photos do, but not the memories and never the love,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n They married in 1981 and welcomed their only child, Wolfgang Van Halen, before divorcing in 2007.<\/p>\n Eddie married Janie Liszewski in 2009. Bertinelli married Tom Vitale in 2011, and their divorce was finalized in 2022.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bertinelli captioned her follow-up video, \u201cStrap in haters, let\u2019s go for a little ride.\u201d She described months of criticism that could lead someone to deny loving a former husband.<\/p>\n 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 \u201cinsidious\u201d and \u201csoul-breaking,\u201d and said she recognized the behavior from her own experiences.<\/p>\n Bertinelli described someone making a night at her son\u2019s concert miserable without explicitly telling her she could not attend.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In a March 10 interview with PEOPLE<\/a> about her memoir, Getting Naked<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still probably would\u2019ve divorced, because he wasn\u2019t ready to get sober, and I had to protect Wolfie,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Wolfgang, now 35, marked the anniversary with a photograph of his father holding him as a baby on his chest.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get any easier,\u201d he wrote in the message, also shared on Threads<\/a>. \u201cLove and miss you more than you could ever know, Pop.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolfgang joined Van Halen as its bassist in 2006. In a 2008 father-and-son interview with Guitar World<\/a>, Eddie recalled inviting him to join after they had been rehearsing with Eddie\u2019s brother, drummer Alex Van Halen. Wolfgang\u2019s first tour as the band\u2019s bassist began in 2007.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe Photograph She Chose to Remember Eddie<\/h2>\n
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Bertinelli Describes Pressure to Take Photographs Down<\/h2>\n
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Why She Believes They Still Would Have Divorced<\/h2>\n
Wolfgang Shared His Own Tribute<\/h2>\n