It's strange that anyone would think Valerie Bertinelli played a part in the 1985 schism between David Lee Roth and the rest of Van Halen, but as her son would be happy to explain, anyone can be accused of anything, especially when it comes to Van Halen.
Roth left Van Halen in 1985, about four years after Bertinelli married Eddie Van Halen. The actress-turned-author recently appeared on Rob Lowe's Literally! podcast to look back her life, and her place in rock 'n' roll history.
Bertinelli admitted that she and Roth didn't get off to a good start, though she's never understood why.
“After Ed and I became involved, all of a sudden there was this rule that there was no girlfriends and no wives allowed on the road,” she told Lowe. “I got along great with Al [Van Halen] and with Mike [Anthony]. ...“I don’t know why he didn’t like me, but what are you gonna do? … I mean, I was always nice to him. I honestly don’t know.”
She continued: "One day I'd like to sit down with him and go, 'Dude, what did I do? Honestly, I've always been a fan of yours. I think you're a brilliant frontman. I think you're a brilliant songwriter. I love your lyrics. Why don't you like me? What did I do?"
It's possible that Roth's issues with Bertinelli had more to do with his constant power struggle with Eddie. Bertinelli wrote in her memoir that in the early-'80s Eddie claimed to have overheard Roth complaining about the spotlight he was getting.
"That f---ing little prick, not only is he winning all the guitar awards, he's also the first to marry a movie star," Roth purportedly said.
Lowe jokingly asked Bertinelli if she was "the Yoko Ono of Van Halen," referring to the discredited theory that Ono cheered on the Beatles' breakup.
"Well, I have been accused of that, even though Yoko didn't break up the Beatles," Bertinelli replied. "And I certainly didn't break up Van Halen."
Roth has long admitted to butting heads with the Van Halens, even in the early days of the band. Eddie and Alex were reportedly so frustrated with Roth's performance in the recording studio on their early album demos that they considered replacing him with Sammy Hagar before their debut album.
Since Van Halen's final gigs, the singer has continued to jockey for credit for the band's success. In just the past few years, he's claimed to have written the band's entire first album — music and lyrics — and come up with the iconic striped design for Eddie's 'FrankenStrat' guitar (a claim that was debunked with great prejudice by Van Halen historians).
Bertinelli may never get an answer as to why she and Roth couldn't get along — but that puts her in good company; Hagar has also complained that Roth dislikes him for no apparent reason.