Valerie Bertinelli says despite her girl-next-door image, her marriage to Eddie Van Halen was hurt by infidelity and drug use - by her, too. “I wasn’t an angel, either. I cheated, too,” Bertinelli said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” broadcast Monday. “He claims to this day that I cheated first, but I don’t know. I don’t know about the timing.”
Bertinelli, who starred in the long-running sitcom “One Day at a Time,” married Van Halen in 1981 when she was 20. She said she was “destroying my body,” trying to keep up with a rock-star lifestyle on the weekends and weeks off from taping her TV show.
“It got to a point where whenever I heard the birds chirp, I’d be like, `Oh, God, no.’ It took me years after stopping the cocaine before I was able to enjoy a sunrise and enjoy the sound of birds,” she said.
The couple separated in 2001. Their divorce became final in December. They have a son, Wolfgang, who’s now 16 and touring as bassist with the band Van Halen.
The actress, 47, said she has struggled with body-image issues since she was a child, but especially turned to food for comfort as her marriage dissolved.
Bertinelli is now a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig and said she’s lost 40 pounds. She has a new book, “Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time.”
Van Halen’s publicist said the musician had no comment on Bertinelli’s book or interviews to promote it.