‘The Drew Barrymore Show’: Valerie Bertinelli Recalls “Nerves And Fears” When Her Son Went On Tour With Van Halen At 16

Valerie Bertinelli didn’t have the typical college drop-off experience that most parents have. Instead, she had to cope with the “fears” of sending her 16-year-old son off to tour with his rockstar dad, Eddie Van Halen .

On this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show , Bertinelli — the latest member of the Drew Crew — joined host Drew Barrymore and Ross Mathews at the Drew’s News desk, where she read off one headline about a married couple who, immediately after dropping their kids off at college, flew to Disney World. During their trip, they hilariously carried a sign that read “First Day of Empty Nest” around each park.

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Mathews then asked how Bertinelli, who was married to Eddie from 1981 to 2007, felt when their son Wolfgang Van Halen left the nest.

“It’s a little different with me and Wolf because he left when he was 16 to go on tour with his dad,” she said. “So that was a little bit different.”

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However, she admitted that there were still “a lot of nerves and fears on [her] part.”

“But here he is 17 years later, 16 years later recording his third album,” Bertinelli added. “He’s got two hit albums so he’s doing really well!”

While Bertinelli and Eddie both remarried after their divorce, they remained close friends, with the actress being one of the people present when he took his final breath in October 2020.

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“‘I love you’ are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing,” she wrote in her memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today , per People .

Bertinelli also posted a touching tribute to her ex-husband on social media.

“40 years ago my life changed forever when I met you,” she wrote, per Variety . “You gave me the one true light in my life, our son, Wolfgang. Through all your challenging treatments for lung cancer, you kept your gorgeous spirit and that impish grin. I’m so grateful Wolfie and I were able to hold you in your last moments. I will see you in our next life my love.”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.

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