The Tragedy Of Wolfgang Van Halen Explained

Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, has established himself as a talented musician in his own right over the past two decades. Having learned the intricacies of hard rock guitar from his father, he began making guest appearances at his father's shows while still a teenager before joining Van Halen as a full-time bassist in 2006. He served in the band for 14 years before establishing his own group, Mammoth WVH, which today attracts millions of listeners and has earned a reputation as a live rock act of the highest order.

It might be tempting to say that Wolfgang's had it easy — in today's parlance, critics might label him a "nepo baby" thanks to his connections to the hard rock world of his father. But the untold truth of Wolfgang Van Halen is that he has faced plenty of heartache during his lifetime and had to work hard to follow in his father's footsteps. Thankfully, his passion for music remains undiminished.

The lifestyles of 20th century rockstars weren't exactly conducive to establishing a settled family environment. Nevertheless, at the height of his career, hard-partying Eddie Van Halen got married, tying the knot with actress Valerie Bertinelli in 1981. A decade later, the couple welcomed their only child, Wolfgang, into the world, creating what would later prove to be an effective rock dynasty.

However, the pair split in 2002 when Wolfgang was not yet a teenager, the result of Eddie's drug use and extramarital affairs. "One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like," Bertinelli later told Oprah. "Ed and I weren't treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that's what Wolfie was seeing." Their divorce was finalized in 2007.

The split affected not only young Wolfgang but also his father, who his son said struggled with the separation. In an appearance on "Behind the Music," Wolfgang claimed that his father's manner became darker after his divorce, and that the heartbreak worsened his addiction (via Van Halen News Desk). Nevertheless, the family eventually reconciled — both Eddie and Bertinelli were present at each other's weddings when they separately remarried, and today, Wolfgang and Bertinelli are very close.

Wolfgang Van Halen was still just a teenager when he joined his father's world famous band full-time. Despite his musical talents, the promotion to being a Van Halen band member undoubtedly involved a steep learning curve, and not just when it came to Wolfgang's musicianship. As anyone who has played music in a band knows, the success or otherwise of a group playing together often depends on the dynamics between its members. Some of the greatest bands of all time, such as The Beatles, have broken up partly as a result of growing tensions, even as the quality of the music they played together persisted. For Wolfgang, being in a band with your famous father is hard to begin with, but what has come to light since is that the teenage bassist also found himself at the center of his father's addiction to drugs and alcohol.

"Growing up witnessing and being around it I was a bit naive to the severity of it, until I became of age to really understand, around my early teens, and being around his struggles when I joined Van Halen," Wolfgang explained on an appearance on the "I Never Thought It Would Happen" podcast. He believes that at the time, he was his father's "support system" in overcoming the pre-show anxiety that would make him liable to drink. "Addiction is a disease," Wolfgang said. "And it's a very awful one, and it really had a strong hold on him, but he got through it, and I was very proud of the way he got out of it."

Eddie Van Halen was such a force of nature that for his millions of fans, it seemed he might go on performing forever. However, in the 2010s, after decades of touring and the party lifestyle, the guitarist's health sadly began to fail him. In 2017, Eddie was diagnosed with stage VI lung cancer, a disease likely exacerbated by his many years of smoking. His first cancer diagnosis was in 2001. Wolfgang has revealed that his father was initially given six weeks to live after his second diagnosis, but that he was given unexpected longevity by specialist treatment he had sought in Germany. 

After living for another three years past his 2017 prognosis, Eddie Van Halen died on October 6, 2020 at the age of 65, with Wolfgang putting his musical career on hold as he cared for his father in his final years. Tragically, Wolfgang has also confirmed that prior to his father's failing health and death, Eddie had been in the midst of planning a long-rumored reunion tour, which was to include former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth. The plans had to be shelved after Eddie's diagnosis. Despite his grief, Wolfgang has told People magazine that his own solo career continues to be propelled by his father. "What really helps me keep going is my dad, because if I just gave up and stopped and crawled in a hole, which I feel like doing every day, I know he'd be really p***** off at me," he said.

The death of Eddie Van Halen was met by an outpouring of grief from heavy rock fans. Numerous news outlets noted the guitarist's incredible contribution to the genre and his place in history as one of the finest guitarists and most influential rock practitioners of all time. After news of his death broke, numerous rock legends including Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, and KISS's Paul Stanley took to social media to pay tribute to their friend and colleague.

But not everyone treated Eddie's death with the respect it deserved. In 2022, the cable network Reelz announced the rocker's demise was to be the focus point of a new episode of "Autopsy: The Last Hours Of." According to the network, the show presents biographical material of a well-loved star alongside expert testimony and analysis to give "the truth behind the controversial deaths of global icons."

While many fans may have been intrigued by the show, Eddie's family members were enraged by his being the subject of "Autopsy," voicing their opinion that the show was exploitative and in bad taste. Posting on Twitter, now X, Wolfgang Van Halen described the show as "disgusting" and "heartless," adding that the show sought to "glamorize someone's death from cancer" — sentiments echoed by his mother, Eddie's ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli.

Shortly after the tragic death of Eddie Van Halen, Wolfgang released a song with his new band Mammoth WVH called "Distance." The music video was made with home footage of Eddie during Wolfgang's early years. It proved to be a huge hit for Van Halen fans still reeling from their hero's death and a successful jumping off point for Wolfgang's music career outside of his father's shadow.

Since then, Wolfgang's Mammoth WVH has released two hit studio albums and become a popular live act among rock fans. In 2023, the band was the opening live act for Metallica. Of course, many listeners attending Mammoth WVH concerts for the first time might expect him to play the music of Van Halen — after all, he was a member of the band for 14 years. However, Wolfgang has said that he has no interest in playing the group's songs, as his father is no longer around to play with him. Thankfully, he has proven to have songwriting chops of his own. "I think when it comes to paying tribute to my father, me just existing and playing music every day, and writing music is a tribute enough," he has said (via Today). "But it was nice to have that moment where I could play Van Halen's music." Wolfgang points to the sky at least once during each gig as a tribute to his father.