Valerie Bertinelli Shares Candid Feelings About a Possible Van Halen Biopic: ‘Make Sure I’m Dead’

Biopic films have long been a part of pop culture as they often give fans a behind-the-scenes look at a celebrity’s career and private life. Though they may be popular with entertainment enthusiasts, not everyone in the public eye is keen on the idea. That appears to be the case with Valerie Bertinelli, whose long-time relationship with ex-husband Eddie Van Halen has been the subject of many articles over the years. Keep reading to find out what the 64-year-old actress had to say about a potential Van Halen biopic.

Valerie Bertinelli’s thoughts on a Van Halen biopic

During the April 14 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Bertinelli shared her feelings about the possibility of a Van Halen biopic happening. While discussing the upcoming Beatles biopics, the former One Day at a Time cast member revealed that she hopes one never comes to fruition—at least not while she’s still around.

“Make sure I’m dead. I told Wolfie, ‘Make sure I’m dead,’” Bertinielli said, referring to the 34-year-old son she welcomed with the late Van Halen.

Despite her resistance to the idea, she was happy to answer Barrymore’s question about who Bertinelli would cast as herself in a biopic.

 “Oh… Selena Gomez. She would be amazing,” she said, quickly adding, “But Selena, don’t do it! Please don’t do it!”   

Valerie Bertinelli’s comments on being compared to Yoko Ono

Bertinelli and Van Halen met in 1980 and got married just a year later when she was 21 and he was 26. Though the band didn’t announce a split until 1985, some fans pointed fingers at the actress, assuming she was the cause.

During the interview, Bertinelli told Barrymore that she’s been compared to Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s second wife. “Oh you didn’t know that I broke up Van Halen?” she said with a laugh. “As if I had the power to break up a band.” 

Bertinelli went on to add that it was the Beatles’ own issues—not Yoko—that caused the group to break up. She said the same was true of Van Halen’s disbandment, which was the result of internal hardships.

A look back at Valerie Bertinelli and Eddie Van Halen’s rocky relationship

Bertinelli’s resistance to seeing a biopic of the band come to be may be related to her and Van Halen’s difficult relationship over the years. Though they were married for more than 20 years, they separated in 2001 and divorced in 2007.

“We were portrayed as a mismatch,” she wrote in her memoir, Enough Already: Learning to Love the Way I Am Today. “The bad boy rock star and America’s sweetheart but privately, Ed wasn’t the person people thought he was and neither was I.”

Over the years, Bertinelli has been honest about the drugs, alcohol and infidelity that plagued their decades-long relationship. But she confessed in her memoir that both were apologetic for the troubles in their marriage.

That allowed the former couple to still share a bond over the years, even when both remarried other people later on. In fact, Bertinelli and their son were by the musician’s final weeks before he died in October 2020 from throat cancer.

“‘I love you’ are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me,” she wrote in the book, “and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing.”