Valerie Bertinelli Worried About Her Son Entering the Music World That ‘Tried To Destroy His Father'

Valerie Bertinelli recently appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show alongside her son, Wolfgang Van Halen and his wife, Andraia Allsop. During the segment, Bertinelli opened up about the concerns she had about her son becoming a musician after the way the industry impacted his father, Eddie Van Halen, who she was married to from 1981 until 2007.

Although Wolfgang has always shown a love for music, Bertinelli admitted, "I ignored it for as long as I possibly could because the business sucks. I was afraid for my son to go into a business that tried to destroy his father. And Ed was able to get through it, but it's a really hard business."

Related: Valerie Bertinelli Shares Throwback Photo With Wolfgang Van Halen, Who Looks Just Like His Dad

Bertinelli continued, "Even as a little baby before he could walk, you could see if you watch the ‘Distance' video, you can see him just constantly plucking on strings and just fascinated by what Ed was doing on the guitar. It was always in him."

"Distance" is a song that Wolfgang released with his band, Mammoth, as a tribute to his father, who died in 2020. The accompanying music video contains real family footage and audio from the star. With over 8 million views on YouTube, the comment section is filled with heartfelt compliments. One said, "Every child deserves a father like this." Another said, "The voicemail killed me."

During the interview with Drew Barrymore, Bertinelli also spoke about the origin of her son's name, revealing that he was named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. "Now looking back, it's like how could I saddle some man with Wolfgang and Van Halen?" she said. "It's like, what if he doesn't become a musician? But the thing is, our house always had instruments, like there was guitars on every wall, there was a piano, there was a drum set."

Bertinelli concluded with, "I like to say that Wolfie is the man he is in spite of me and Ed. We made a lot of mistakes, but in the end he always had unconditional love."

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This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 8:46 AM.