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Valerie Bertinelli hasn’t read Alex Van Halen’s book about late brother Eddie

Valerie Bertinelli hasn’t read Alex Van Halen’s book about late brother Eddie

Valerie Bertinelli prepares emotionally to read Alex Van Halen‘s memoirs.

Appears on The Drew Barrymore Show on Thursday, November 7, Bertinelli, 64, revealed that she has yet to read Brothersa love letter to Alex’s late brother and the actress’s ex-husband, who has been married for 25 years. Van Halen rocker Eddie Van Halen.

“I’m so excited to read it,” the actress said as host Barrymore, 49, held up a copy of the book. “It’s in my house now and I look at it, and I tremble when I think about it, because I know them very well.”

Barrymore’s co-host Ross Matthews then asked Bertinelli who joined season 5 of The Drew Barrymore Show as a lifestyle expert earlier this year: “I think Drew and I have the same question. Can we ask why you haven’t read it?”

“It’s going to be emotional,” Bertinelli responded. “It will be very emotional because I love these two men. They are good men and they are very complicated men. Congratulations, Al, it’s going to be a bestseller.’

The former Food Network star further praised the drummer’s memoir, calling it “beautiful” and saying of Alex, 71, “He did a great job.”

“When I talked to Al last year when he told me he was writing the book, I was super excited for him and we had a long conversation about grief and what you go through,” Bertinelli continued. “He’s a very private man, so it’s very special that he does this. And to do it so beautifully, I’m so proud of you, Al.”

“I’m so glad you wrote your story and I really believe people will get a different insight into Ed the man and not the icon or whatever you think you know about him, he wasn’t. “He was a gentle, gentle soul who went through extreme trauma, and so did Al,” she added.

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Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen.

Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty


Eddie died in October 2020 at the age of 65 in hospital due to throat cancer. Bertinelli held one of the musician’s hands while their son, Wolfgang Van Halen33 held the other.

In one PEOPLE cover story Published in April this year, Bertinelli recalled Eddie’s last moments and revealed how the group in his hospital room, which also included Alex and his two sons, ordered pizza shortly after his death.

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Hardcover of ‘Brothers’ by Alex Van Halen, published in October 2024.

“I didn’t want to believe it was happening. Even while it was happening, I didn’t believe it was happening,” said Bertinelli, who her divorce finalized of Eddie in 2007, told PEOPLE about his death.

“I forget who suggested it, but we were like, ‘Should we have pizza?’ … Because he couldn’t eat, and the last thing Ed really wanted was pizza,” she recalled. “He loved pizza and burritos, so we ate pizza in his hospital room. I hope people don’t find that morbid.”

“He knew how much I loved him,” she added. “I knew how much he loved me. The last words he said to me and Wolfie were, ‘I love you.’ Ed was very giving with his heart. He wore it on his sleeve.”