Valerie Bertinelli didn’t have anything to do with Van Halen’s split with David Lee Roth. It seems absolutely bonkers in 2022 to have to say that, but here we are.
This topic was broached when Bertinelli appeared on the podcast Literally! With Rob Lowe to promote her new book Enough Already: Learning To Love The Way I Am Today. When talking about the earlier days of her relationship with Eddie Van Halen, Bertinelli said, “After Ed and I became involved, all of a sudden there was this rule that there was no girlfriends and no wives allowed on the road. I got along great with Al [Alex Van Halen] and with Mike [Michael Anthony]. It was someone else.”
Obviously, by process of elimination, David Lee Roth was allegedly the one who initiated this rule, and it’s something for which Bertinelli still doesn’t have an explanation.
“I don’t know why he didn’t like me, but what are you gonna do?” she said. “I don’t know why he didn’t like me. I mean, I was always nice to him. I honestly don’t know. One day I’d like to sit down with him and go, ‘Dude, what did I do? Honestly, I’ve always been a fan of yours. I think you’re a brilliant frontman, I think you’re a brilliant songwriter, I love your lyrics. Why don’t you like me? What did I do?’”
When Lowe asked Bertinelli if Roth suspected her being the “Yoko Ono of Van Halen,” she responded, “Well, I have been accused of that, even though Yoko didn’t break up The Beatles, and I certainly didn’t break up Van Halen.”
This seems like a good time to reiterate that Yoko Ono had nothing to do with The Beatles breaking up, so everyone, just quit it with that nonsense.