Valerie Bertinelli has no regrets about posting a photo of her late ex-husband, Eddie Van Halen, on the anniversary of his death.
“It does not take long for me to get a lot of pushback when I post a picture of me and Ed,” Bertinelli, 66, shared via Instagram on Tuesday, October 6. “It used to really bother me. It does not, not anymore. Not any longer, because I learned a lot.”
Earlier in the day, the Hot in Cleveland actress posted a throwback picture with the rocker on social media. Van Halen — who was married to Bertinelli from 1981 to 2007 — died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 65.
“Photos may fade, like old photos do, but not the memories and never the love,” she captioned the tribute.
After receiving some comments from “haters” about the post, Bertinelli decided to address the scrutiny directly in a video message.
“They’ll never quite say the words, ‘You’re not allowed to love your ex-husband,’ but they berate you and berate you for months, make you think you’re crazy until you finally say, ‘OK, fine, I don’t love him,’” she said. “They will never say, ‘Take that picture down, the one of your ex-husband along with you and your son in better days.’ They’ll never say take it down. But [they’ll say] that you’re obsessed, say all kinds of f***ed up s*** until you take the picture down.”
While Bertinelli said she was once swayed by coercive comments, those days are over. (The best-selling author later clarified to a follower that she wasn’t referring to her ex-husband. Instead, it was a person who “wasn’t in my life long.”)
“My heart can hold a lot of love. I have a big piece right here that’s got Ed’s name all over it. And [my son] Wolfie’s name. And my daughter-in-law. And my mother. And my cats. And my girlfriends. And all the people that I love in my life,” she shared. “My heart can hold it all. If I ever fall in love again, I’ll make room in my heart for that person, without it touching the love I have for Ed, my son, my daughter-in-law, all the people that I love.”
She continued, “Your heart opens up. Because your heart can hold a lot of love. All of our hearts can. So you can’t bother me. I love Ed. Never stopped loving Ed. And my heart loves a lot. Don’t you wish yours could too?”
